Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea

Introduction

Gonorrhea is an infectious bacterial disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and is spread primarily by sexual intercourse. Although N. gonorrhoeae cannot survive long outside the body, transmission by some forms of nonsexual bodily contact is possible (e.g., by breaks in the skin or contact with the birth canal during vaginal delivery of infants born to infected mothers). In the United States, all states require reporting of gonorrhea cases to the local health authority. This paper is significant for the students of medical and medicines. This paper focuses on the sexual transmitted disease. The paper is important for Identity vs. Identity diffusion (13 to 20 years) when there are the physical changes and new demands of the environment. The young person presents himself seeks his identity in question.

Discussion

Gonorrhea is categorized based on the presence of local or disseminated infection. The most common presentation of gonorrhea infection is urethritis in men, and endocervicitis in women, both characterized by a heavy, yellow-green purulent discharge. Local infection may also involve the rectum, vestibular glands, conjunctiva, or pharynx. However, asymptomatic infection (e.g., cervicitis) is common, especially in women. The most frequent complication in women is pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Disseminated infection involves bacteremia with endocarditis, meningitis, dermatitis, polyarthritis, and peritonitis. Potential complications of gonorrhea include endometritis, salpingitis, bartholinitis, peritonitis, perihepatitis, and tubo-ovarian abscess in females and periurethritis and epididymitis in males. Untreated, gonorrhea can lead to infertility in both males and females. Gonorrhea should be differentiated from nongonococcal urethritis, nongonococcal mucopurulent cervicitis, and chlamydia. Traditionally, diagnosis has been based on culture of urethral discharge in males and cervical discharge in females. Newer nucleic acid amplification tests for the detection of N. gonorrhoeae are now available. Gonorrhea is curable; treatment involves antibiotic therapy (for details, see Treatment Goals, below). Due to the increase in gonorrhea resistance to fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin, spectinomycin, or cephalosporins such as cefixime and ceftriaxone are now recommended for empirical gonorrhea treatment.

In the U.S., gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported notifiable disease and the second most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) after chlamydia. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 700,000 new cases of gonorrhea each year in the U.S., although only about half of these are actually reported. In 2006, there were 358,366 cases reported, for a rate of 120.9 per 100,000 persons. The highest rates were in females aged 15-19 ...