Gonorrhea also known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted bacterial disease, which differs in males and females.

Symptoms

The symptoms in males include a yellowish discharge from the penis, which causes painful, frequent urination. Symptoms can develop from two to thirty days after infection. A few percent of infected men have no symptoms. The infection may move into the prostate, seminal vesicles, and epididymis, causing pain and fever. Untreated, gonorrhea can lead to sterility.

Less than half the women with gonorrhea show any symptoms, or symptoms so mild they just ignore. Early symptoms include a discharge from the vagina, some discomfort in the lower abdomen, irritation of the genitals, pain or burning during urination and some abnormal bleeding. Women, who leave these symptoms untreated, develop severe complications. The infection will usually spread to the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, causing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). Gonorrhea is the most common cause of female infertility.

Some early symptoms of this infection are lower abdomen pain, fever, nausea, and pain during intercourse.

In both men and women if gonorrhea is left untreated, it may spread throughout the body, affecting joints and even heart valves.

Treatment

There is treatment for gonorrhea, since it is a bacterial infection, and the name of the drug is Ceftriaxone.

Transmission

The bacterium that causes gonorrhea can be passed through intercourse, anal sex, and cunnilingus. The transmission is by contact of fluids from mucous membranes of infected people and it usually is through sexual activity. Most frequently, these bacteria infect the man’s urethra, the tube that carries urine and semen through the penis, and the woman’s cervix, the canal into the uterus.

Testing

There are two types of testing to show if you have gonorrhea. One is called gram strain, which is usually more accurate for men then for women. The test consists of placing a smear of the discharge on a slide that has a dye in it and when examined under a microscope shows the presence of gonorrhea.

The next test is a culture test, this one is usually used to tell if women have gonorrhea or not. It involves taking a sample of the discharge and placing it on a culture plate to incubate for two days, to allow the bacteria to multiply. Cervical samples are more accurate, to tell if the woman has gonorrhea or not.