Gonorrhea

Generality

The term gonorrhea, a word of Greek origin meaning "seed flow", identifies one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases.

Also known as blenorrhea or blenorrhagia, gonorrhea is a bacterial infection typical of adolescents and young adults, among which the risk of infection is directly proportional to the number of sexual partners had.

Causes and Contagion

Gonorrhea is transmitted with any form of unprotected contact, from coitus to fellatio, from anal intercourse to cunnilingus and, more rarely, with kiss or indirect contact (mixed use of linen or toilet facilities, etc.).

The causative agent, the Neisser gonococcus ( Neisseria gonorrhoeae ), is in fact poorly resistant to environmental stimuli, can survive only a few hours on the toilet and is easily inactivated by heat or by a common disinfectant.

Gonococcal infection can also be transmitted during delivery from the mother to the newborn, resulting in the appearance of severe conjunctivitis and / or septic arthritis. More rarely, the infection can occur already during pregnancy or in the postpartum period; during the gestational phase the infection increases the risk of abortion and premature birth.

Symptoms

To learn more: Gonorrhea symptoms

Gonorrhea mainly affects the genitourinary system and is manifested by purulent secretions from the penis or vagina. These yellowish leaks, from which the popular term "drain", are associated with a continuous urge to urination, more or less accompanied by an annoying urethral burning sensation. These symptoms generally appear 2-7 days after the infection, more frequently in the male than in the female, where the infection is often asymptomatic.

Symptoms in the male

As mentioned, already after a few days from the infection, gonorrhea becomes evident through a modest leakage from the urethral canal of mucoid and colorless material, which soon acquires consistency, becomes abundant and assumes a yellowish color. This typical symptom picture is known as gonococcal urethritis.

Usually these symptoms, associated with itching and burning especially during urination, draw the patient's attention, prompting him to consult a doctor and to benefit from the consequent drug therapy.

Thanks to the high success of antibiotic treatments, the complications of gonorrhea are rare; nevertheless it is good not to ignore the symptoms, since the untreated infection can complicate the urethritis and spread in other sectors of the genital apparatus (prostatitis, epididymitis, chronic infection of the seminal vesicles, etc.), up to cause sterility.

Finally, it is good to remember that the spontaneous regression of symptoms is not synonymous with healing and that, if the naive hope is met, it is still essential to contact a doctor, both to receive a diagnosis and an appropriate therapy, and to avoid transmitting gonorrhea to their partners.

Symptoms in women

In women there is a greater degree of variability in the onset and course of infection. Symptoms usually appear ten days after intercourse, but sometimes a longer period can elapse, up to a month after infection.

The symptomatology is often modest or even absent, mostly limited to the reddening of the urinary meatus and to modest vaginal discharge, possibly associated with fleeting disorders in urination.

Even in the female sex the patient's carelessness can have serious repercussions on her fertility. Infection can in fact propagate upwards to the cervix and the tubes, causing local inflammation (salpingitis) to determine a picture known as pelvic inflammatory disease.

In women, but also in men, the association of gonorrhea and chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) is frequently found, a basically dangerous combination since, although easy to control with antibiotic therapy, the risk of complications in both sexes increases .

Oral and rectal symptoms

Frequent among homosexual males and in women, where anorectal gonorrhea can generally be transmitted by self-contamination from infected material of vaginal origin, it is generally asymptomatic. If it involves clinical manifestations, it is associated with symptoms such as itching or anal pain during defecation, an urgent feeling of defecation and blood loss or mucopurolente.

Also the oral infection does not generally cause particular symptoms which, however, when they appear, are unlikely to go beyond a simple irritation of the throat and tonsils.

Diagnosis

In humans, gonorrhea easily emerges from a clinical analysis. In any case, especially in the poorly detectable forms, the diagnostic confirmation requires the analysis of urethral, cervical, pharyngeal or rectal secretions (based on the type of sexual relationship had). There are different analysis techniques, which go from the old cultivation methods to the recent, rapid and highly reliable, gene amplification tests. The latter can also be performed on a simple urinary sample.