What is Gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea, a curable STD commonly called “the clap”, is caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. These bacteria can infect the mucous membranes of the genital tract, the mouth, the rectum, the throat (pharyngitis), or the eye (conjunctivitis). It is contracted through oral, vaginal, or anal sex. After spreading into the uterus and fallopian tubes, gonorrhea can result in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), causing ectopic pregnancy and infertility in as many as 10 of infected women.
Those between the ages of 15 to 29 years make up approximately 75 percent of all reported cases of gonorrhea found in the United States. Pregnant women risk spreading gonorrhea to their newborn infants during delivery causing eye infections (conjunctivitis) or pneumonia.
Symptoms
Women can unknowingly transmit
it to their sexual partners because this infection often
causes no symptoms and can often go undiagnosed. Symptoms usually appear
within 2 to 10 days after sexual contact with an infected
partner, but may go undetected for several months. Women may have a
bloody or yellow vaginal discharge and/or painful or burning sensations
when urinating.
Men
have symptoms more often than women. They may experience
symptoms of urethritis, burning during urination (may be severe),
and penile discharge.
Gonorrhea can
also infect and the rectum (proctitis). Though asymptomatic in
90% of cases, symptoms for Proctitis are diarrhea, anal itching,
anal discharge, and occasional painful bowel movements with fresh blood on
the feces.
If you have contracted gonorrhea, all of
your sexual partners should get tested, whether they have
symptoms or not, so they can obtain treatment if necessary.
Treatment
Left untreated, gonorrhea infections can spread up into the reproductive tract, or more rarely, can spread through the blood stream and infect the joints, heart valves, or the brain. More commonly, women can develop PID, which could cause infertility or an ectopic pregnancy. This serious complication may result in a miscarriage and can cause the death of the mother.Doctors usually prescribe a single dose of an antibiotic to treat gonorrhea. Among the antibiotics are: cefixime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin or ofloxacin should not be taken by pregnant or younger than 18. Doctors usually prescribe a combination of antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone and doxycycline or azithromycin, because chlamydia often infects people at the same time and the combination will treat both diseases.
Testing
Click here for a "Gonorrhea Test" which can be done in the
privacy of your own home:
You will receive detailed, easy to follow
instructions in your urine test kit for
Gonnorhea.
There are several different options to diagnose gonorrhea: detection of bacterial genes or DNA in urine, growing the bacteria in lab cultures, or staining samples directly for the bacterium.
More doctors use urine or cervical swabs for tests that detect the genes of the bacteria: PCR, LCR, TMA tests. These tests are as accurate or more so than culturing the bacteria. They are highly sensitive and specific, meaning it is not likely to get a false-positive or false-negative result.
The culture test takes a sample of the discharge onto a culture plate and incubates it up to 2 days to allow the bacteria to grow. A culture can also detect gonorrhea in the throat. Cervical samples are approximately 90 percent accurate. Cultures also allow testing for drug-resistant bacteria.
All sex partners should be tested, so they can receive treatment. They can infect other sexual partners, and even reinfect you after you have been treated.