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By: Ikedi Ani-okoye.

Gonorrhea introduction

Gonorrhea is a prevalent sexually transmitted disease (STD) that occurs at the rate of approximately 600,000 new cases per year in the US alone. Gonorrhea is also termed “the clap,” and untreated gonorrhea is the leading cause for several diseases in women that are linked to later infertility. These include pelvic inflammatory disease, scarring of the fallopian tubes, ectopic pregnancy, and endometrios.

Symptoms of gonorrhea

In general, the symptoms of gonorrhea will take anywhere between two and ten days to become visible- although visible signs can take as long as 30 days to appear. For women, the first area to become noticeably infected is usually the cervix. From there, the infection moves up into the uterus and subsequently, into the fallopian tubes. However, women are also much more likely than men to be asymptomatic- in other words, it's much more common that women won't experience any symptoms at all. In fact, as many as 50% of women with gonorrhea do not experience any apparent symptoms of the disease. If they do develop symptoms, they are likely to include:

• bleeding after sex
• pain or burning sensation when urinating
• need to urinate more frequently
• vaginal discharge that is yellow or bloody
• cramps
• bleeding between periods
• nausea or vomiting
• fever.

Gonorrhea and pregnancy

Gonorrhea can cause a pregnant woman to go into labor early, resulting in premature delivery. All pregnant women should be tested for gonorrhea, even if they don't seem to be at risk for the disease. Babies born to infected mothers can get gonorrhea of the eyes or have other problems. In addition, all babies are automatically given eyedrops right after delivery to avoid gonorrhea or chlamydial infection.

Gonorrhea popularity

Gonorrhea is a very common infectious disease. CDC estimates that more than 700,000 persons in the U.S. get new gonorrheal infections each year. Only about half of these infections are reported to CDC. In 2002, 351,852 cases of gonorrhea were reported to CDC. In the period from 1975 to 1997, the national gonorrhea rate declined, following the implementation of the national gonorrhea control program in the mid-1970s. After a small increase in 1998, the gonorrhea rate has decreased slightly since 1999. In 2002, the rate of reported gonorrheal infections was 125.0 per 100,000 persons.

CONCLUSION

A test for gonorrhea that gives accurate, quick results is available at your doctor's office, family planning clinics and STD clinics. Early diagnosis and treatment are necessary to avoid serious complications and spread of this disease. If you test positive, all of your sex partners during the previous 3 months should be tested and treated for gonorrhea, even if they have no symptoms. Public health professionals from the Division of Public Health can help you with this task. If your sex partners have the infection and are not treated, you could get infected again if you have sex again with the same partners.