An inflammatory disease caused by Neisseria gonococcous, affecting especially the mucous membrane of the URETHRA in the male and that of the VAGINA in the female, but spreading also to other parts. It is the most common of the SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES. Every year 200 million new cases are diagnosed worldwide, including over 800,000 in the US. In the UK, the number of newly diagnosed sufferers had been declining during the 1990s but in 2015 there were over 41,000 reported cases, an increase of 2½ times in ten years, mostly in men who have sex with men.
The disease is directly contagious from another person already suffering from it – usually by unprotected sexual intercourse, but occasionally conveyed by the discharge on sponges, towels or clothing as well as by actual contact. The gonococcus is found in the discharge expressed from the urethra, which may be spread as a film on a glass slide, suitably stained, and examined under the microscope; or a culture from the discharge may be made on certain bacteriological media and films, and similarly examined under the microscope. Since discharges resembling that of gonorrhoea accompany other forms of inflammation, the identification of the organism is of great importance. A gram-stained smear of urethral discharge enables rapid identification of the gonococcus in around 90 per cent of men.
These differ considerably, according to whether the disease is in an acute or a chronic stage.
After an incubation period of 2–10 days, irritation in the URETHRA, scalding pain on passing water, and a viscid yellowish-white discharge appear; the glands in the groin often enlarge and may suppurate. The urine when passed is hazy and is often found to contain yellowish threads of pus visible to the eye. After some weeks, if the condition has become chronic, the discharge is clear and viscid, there may be irritation in passing urine, and various forms of inflammation in neighbouring organs may appear – the TESTICLE, PROSTATE GLAND and URINARY BLADDER becoming affected. At a still later stage the inflammation of the urethra is apt to lead to gradual formation of fibrous tissue around this channel. This contracts and produces narrowing, so that urination becomes difficult or may be stopped for a time altogether (the condition known as stricture). Joint inflammation is a common complication in the early stage – the knee, ankle, wrist, and elbow being most frequently affected – and this form of ‘rheumatism’ is very intractable and liable to lead to permanent stiffness. The fibrous tissues elsewhere may also develop inflammatory changes, causing pain in the back, foot, etc. In occasional cases, during the acute stage, SEPTICAEMIA may develop, with inflammation of the heart-valves (ENDOCARDITIS) and abscesses in various parts of the body. Occasionally the infective matter is inoculated accidentally into the eye, producing a very severe form of conjunctivitis: in the newly born child this is known as ophthalmia neonatorum and, although now rare in the UK, has in the past been a major cause of blindness (see EYE, DISORDERS OF).
The disease begins with a yellow vaginal discharge, pain on urination, and very often inflammation or abscess of BARTHOLIN'S GLANDS, situated close to the vulva or opening of the vagina. The chief seriousness, however, of the disease is due to the spread of inflammation to neighbouring organs, the UTERUS, FALLOPIAN TUBES, and OVARIES, causing permanent destructive changes in these, and leading occasionally to PERITONITIS through the Fallopian tube with a fatal result. Many cases of prolonged ill-health and sterility or recurring miscarriages are due to these changes.
In the UK, recommended first-line treatment is with the antibiotics ceftriaxone and azithromycin, adding doxycycline in complicated cases. The chances of cure are better the earlier treatment is instituted. In all cases it is essential that bacteriological investigation should be carried out at weekly intervals for three or four weeks, to make sure that the patient is cured. Patients attending with gonorrhoea are asked if they will agree to tests for other sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV (see AIDS/HIV) and for assistance in contact tracing.