A Tale of One Bacteria: Gonorrhea STD

Of all the Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) known in the world, there is none that is more popular yet unknown than Gonorrhea STD. It is an oft-mentioned example of an STD but very few details have been broadcast.

So what, exactly, is Gonorrhea STD?

The story of Gonorrhea STD begins with the Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which is a type of bacterium that grows and multiplies easily in warm and moist areas in the body. By “warm and moist”, it only means that Gonorrhea STD grows in the reproductive organs of women, and in the urine canal, anus, mouth, throat and eyes of both men and women.

Gonorrhea STD is a fairly common disease. People get it essentially through sex; whether it is regular, oral or anal, it doesn’t matter. A man does not have to ejaculate to spread Gonorrhea STD to his partner. A mother can also transmit the Gonorrhea STD to her baby during delivery, but a majority of those infected are teenagers and young adults who are sexually active.

The symptoms of Gonorrhea STD typically do not show themselves in many men and women. But some men show symptoms as short as two to five days after being infected, or 30 days after being infected.

In men, the symptoms include a burning sensation at urination, or a discharge from the penis, typically white, yellow or green in color. Sometimes, men infected with Gonorrhea STD experience pain or a swelling in their testicles.

In women, the symptoms are less obvious and might even be mistaken for another type of infection in the bladder or vagina. Women who are infected will typically feel a burning sensation when they are taking a pee break or their vaginal discharges may increase or they may have vaginal bleeding between periods.

In both men and women, the symptoms may include itching, soreness or bleeding in the anus, or painful movements in the bowel.

The problems brought by gonorrhea goes beyond the symptoms. Gonorrhea causes pelvic inflammatory disease or PID in women. PID can lead to abscesses and chronic pain in the pelvis. It can also damage the fallopian tubes and cause infertility or ectopic pregnancy.

In men, gonorrhea causes epididymitis, or a pained condition of the testicles.

Other than pain in the reproductive organs, gonorrhea can spread to the blood or to the joints in the body, which can threaten the life of victims. An infected woman can pass on the disease to her baby as it passes through the birth canal, causing blindness or an infection in the blood or joints.

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Gonorrhea Neisseria

Gonorrhea neisseria is the bacterium that infects the urethra and genital tracts. The infection of the genital sites results in that venereal disease known as gonorrhea. Its medium of contagion is sexual contact such as penis-vaginal contact and oral contact of either penis or vagina.

Gonorrhea neisseria is commonly called as gonococcus. The bacterium was first discovered in 1879 by the German bacteriologist Albert Neisser. Albert Neisser observed the presence of a certain in all discharges of patients siffering from the disease. The bacterium was scietifically named as Neisseria gonorrhoeae after the German doctor.

Gonorrhea neisseria looks like a pair of kidney beans in a stained smear. That is because the bacterium pairs up with another in a stained serum. In a laboratory medium, they appear to have circular shapes: round or oval. Here, the bacterium exists in pairs, in singles, or in clumps.

They sound cute, but gonorrhea neisseria, like most bacteria, is, in fact, parasitic to humans. Although its presence has also been observed in animals, the bacterium only adversely attacks humans.

First, in males, they attack the urethra. When the bacterium attacks the urethra, the bacterium-carrier suffers from burning sensation on urination. The presence of pus in the discharge is also a symptom of the presence of gonorrhea neisseria.

Infection in females usually occurs first in the uterine cervix. Females usually do not experience the burning sensation that accompanies urination as much as men.

Infection, however, may spread to other sites in the body. In women, for instance, gonorrhea neisserium can spread into the upper genital tract. If such occurs, inflammation of the fallopian tube may result and other complications.

Newborn babies may also get infected by the bacterium if the mother suffers from gonorrhea. This occurs when the baby passes through the infected genital tract upon delivery.

Gonorrhea neisseria or gonococcus is known to attack only certain parts of the body. The bacterium thrives in the body’s moist areas such as the genitalia and the rectum. It is also found to grow in the throat.

Gonorrhea neisseria can also invade the bloodstream. This allows the infection to spread into other parts of the body such as the skin, heart valves and tendons. This is known as extragenital infection.

When health professionals conduct smear tests and examine the smear, they look for the presence of gonorrhea neisseria. The presence of this bacterium is a sure indicator that the patient suffers from that common venereal disease called gonorrhea. This bacterium is responsible for gonorrhea.

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