Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea is the venereal disease caused by the bacteria, N. gonorrhoeae. Like all sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea (also spelled gonorrhoae) is important both for the effects it has on the infected individual, and for the effects it has on a population of people. In the specific case of infection with this bacteria, the harmful effects are not always present for an individual, but even when a person suffers no apparent permanent harm- unless treated and cured of the infection, that individual is likely to harm others by perpetuating the infection in sexual contacts.

The presenting signs and symptoms

Early infection presents differently in men and women. In men, the clasic symptom is burning on urination, and the classic sign is a drip of discharge from the tip of the urethra. Although this discharge is often profuse and white with pus,it is not always so obvious. In some infected men, there is little or no discharge. but it may be scant or even absent. Without antibiotic treatment, the infection of the urethra usually persists, however, most men become symptom free as their own immunity controls the level of the infection. Despite no longer having burning urination or discharge, or never having had them, an infection of the male urethra with Neisseria gonnorrhoeae is still a problem. First, persistent bacteria can make the man a carrier of the disease which he can then give to others during sexual intercourse. Second, flares of the infection in his own body are possible.