Gonorrhea is an extremely contagious bacterial infectious disease that is asexually transmitted disease. Every year, up to 60 million people worldwide are infected with gonorrhea. Men and women in younger adulthood (around the age of 30) are equally affected. Since 2001, gonorrhea has no longer been a notifiable disease, which is why there are no reliable figures on the current situation.
Further information and doctors for the treatment of gonorrhea can be found below.
The causative agents of gonorrhea infections are bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae, better known as gonococci. These colonize the mucous membranes in the urinary and genital organs.
Unprotected sexual intercourse and sexual practices such as anal or oral sex are usually responsible for the transmission of gonococci.
People with frequently changing sexual partners and people who have unprotected sex are therefore particularly at risk of contracting gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea in pregnant women
Pregnant women who are infected are another possible route of transmission. They can transmit the bacteria to the newborn child during birth.
Gonococci usually infect the conjunctiva in newborns, which can lead to severe purulent conjunctivitis. In the worst case, the infection can lead to blindness in the child.
Conjunctivitis in a newborn @ ink drop /AdobeStock
The first symptoms usually appear two to three days, sometimes ten days, after the infection.
The first signs are
In around ten percent of cases, gonorrhea initially progresses without any noticeable symptoms. It therefore remains undetected. Infected persons can therefore unknowingly pass on gonorrhea to sexual partners and infect them.
As a result, gonorrhea remains untreated for a long time, leading to chronic disease progression and irreparable damage (infertility).
Specific symptoms in men and women
Inflammation of the reproductive organs often occurs, accompanied by severe lower abdominal pain and fever.
In women, the cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries can become inflamed. In the worst case, this can lead to infertility due to blocked fallopian tubes.
Peritonitis is also possible in women.
In men, reddening and swelling of the urethral opening at the glans may occur. The gonorrhea infection can lead to inflammation of the prostate, bladder or testicles. This is manifested by lower abdominal pain as well as pain and swelling of the testicles. In the worst case, these inflammations can block the epididymal tubules and lead to infertility.
Long-term symptoms
The gonorrhea bacteria can spread throughout the body via the bloodstream and cause the following symptoms in the long term:
Do you have symptoms? Then see a doctor as soon as possible to treat the bacterial infection.
The doctor, usually a specialist in skin and sexually transmitted diseases or a urologist/gynaecologist, will first ask you about your symptoms. Based on what you tell them, they will make a provisional diagnosis.
The definitive diagnosis is made after the laboratory test. If experts find gonococci in the laboratory sample, then you have a gonorrhea infection.
Detection of gonococci under the microscope
For the laboratory sample, the doctor takes a swab from the affected parts of the body. In men this is usually from the urethra, in women usually from the cervix. However, swabs can also be taken from the throat, anus or conjunctiva for microscopic examination.
The doctor then stains the secretion sample from the smear and examines it microscopically. In 50 percent of cases, he will already recognize a gonorrhoea infection.
If not, he sends the secretion sample to the laboratory. There, laboratory staff grow the gonococci as part of a bacterial culture in order to detect the gonorrhea infection.
It is also possible to diagnose gonorrhea by detecting antibodies in the urine or blood.
Gonorrhea is usually treated with antibiotics that kill the gonococci. In the past, the antibiotic penicillin was usually used.
However, as many gonococcal strains are now resistant to penicillin, other antibiotics are now used.
Possible other antibiotics are
In most cases, it is sufficient to administer the antibiotic once in tablet form or as an injection into the muscle. However, treatment for gonorrhea should not be stopped too soon, as otherwise resistance may develop.
You should go for a medical check-up about a week after the antibiotic has been administered. The doctor will check whether the gonococci are actually no longer detectable.
Patients infected with gonorrhea should refrain from sexual intercourse until then so as not to infect their partner. It is also important that all sexual partners are also examined for gonorrhea and treated if necessary.
The chances of recovery from gonorrhea are usually good: if treatment is started early and successfully with antibiotics, the inflammation usually heals without consequences.
Late or untreated gonorrhea can lead to complications and secondary diseases.
These include
