It is believed that sexually transmitted diseases were born simultaneously with humans. For example, mention of gonorrhea can be found in the Bible and even in the treatises of ancient Greek scholars. The second popular name for this disease is gonorrhea. Many are confident that it is possible to catch this infection only through sexual contact, and are more or less aware of what gonorrhea is. What is blenorrhea, urethritis, cervicitis, proctitis, not everyone knows. And meanwhile, all these and a dozen dangerous diseases with dire consequences can be called derivatives of gonorrhea, because it is their trigger.
Pathogen portrait
Even those who have heard that there is such a sexually transmitted disease - gonorrhea, what is the gonococcus that causes it, are poorly represented. We will try to fill this gap. There are dozens of bacteria that parasitize in humans and sometimes bring them to the grave. One of them is the gram-negative diploid gonococcus of the genus Neisseria - the causative agent of gonorrhea. These parasites look like coffee beans or beans, live in pairs, which is why they are called diploid. The word "gram-negative" has no relation to the weight of bacteria and means that they do not change color when stained according to the method of the scientist Gram. The genus of Neisseria is named after the scientist Albert Neisser who discovered them. Gonococci have no flagella, therefore they are practically immovable. The villi, or drank, with which each of them is surrounded, serve not for movement, but for attachment to the mucous membranes. These bacteria live in colonies, which can be clearly seen in the smears of the patient.
Properties in the environment
The causative agent of gonorrhea feels at ease only in nutrient media, especially if there is a native (unchanged) human protein, and in the person himself. In the external environment, its viability is low. So, gonococci perish in a mere soap solution in a matter of seconds, quickly die under the influence of even weak antiseptics (silver salts, betadine, alcohol and others), die as the mucus and pus in which they are dried up. This feature of them is very useful for humans and is used as a prophylaxis of gonorrhea. However, cases have been recorded when gonococci not only existed safely, but also multiplied on the surface of the epithelium, penetrating into the inner layers, blood and lymph vessels.
Properties of bacteria in the human body
Fantastic vitality, unpredictability and virulence of the pathogen - this is the danger of gonorrhea. What is gonococcus in a favorable environment for them? These are quiet secretive creatures that kill stealthily, because when they penetrate the body of their victim (person), most often they do not flaunt their health-damaging activities for a long time. A sick person does not even realize that he has a disease and continues to actively infect others. Gonococcus, meanwhile, is expanding its colonies, capturing new territories and spreading from the mucous membranes (the site of primary introduction) into the internal organs. When settling in a new place of residence, these harmful bacteria produce a special enzyme, beta-lactamase, which protects them from drugs. The human body tries to fight the invaders and attacks them with bacteriophages. But the gonococci are so tenacious that they not only do not die, being eaten, but also continue to multiply. Another way of survival is the ability to mutate, creating L-forms that many antibiotics do not act on.
The "accomplices" of gonorrhea
Not everyone can realize how insidious gonorrhea is. What is the symbiosis of living organisms, everyone knows. Gonococci also form a kind of symbiosis with another parasite - vaginal trichomonas. Trichomoniasis caused by her is unusually widespread throughout the world, so it is easy to catch it if you do not follow the precautions. The aforementioned Trichomonas are slightly larger than the gonococci and easily absorb them. Once inside, gonorrhea bacteria continue to multiply, but become ideally protected from antibiotics. In addition, gonococci often settle in the mucous membranes together with chlamydia, pale treponema (the causative agent of syphilis), fungi - candida, herpes viruses, which complicates the diagnosis. After treatment for gonorrhea, concomitant parasites continue to cause further inflammatory processes.
Infection methods
Since gonorrhea is considered a sexually transmitted disease , the causes of its appearance are mainly associated with the sexual life of a person. However, there are domestic ways of infection. So, gonorrhea can be caught with:
- unprotected sexual intercourse (oral, vaginal, anal sex);
- sharing with a patient a common towel, linen, washcloths;
- children become infected with gonococci during childbirth;
- girls can get sick if the urinary organs are not hygienic (pottery gonorrhea);
- gonococci are brought into the eyes by hands (blenorrhea occurs);
- gonorrhea can also be brought into the household by dirty hands in the mouth (gonorrheal pharyngitis, stomatitis).
In public places (bath, sauna, pool), subject to the use of individual hygiene items, the likelihood of contracting gonorrhea is so small that it is considered equal to zero.
Classification
How fast is the pathology developing? What stages does gonorrhea have? The periods or phases of the disease are as follows:
- fresh (acute), in which up to 2 months have passed since the infection;
- chronic, lasting for years.
Having initially got on the mucous membranes of women, and in men - on the head of the penis, gonococci spread further along the urogenital organs, causing their inflammation and all kinds of complications, including infertility and miscarriages. This is the most dangerous gonorrhea. Forms of the disease are as follows:
- genital;
- extragenital;
- metastatic.
Genital gonorrhea includes diseases of the genital organs and their departments. In women, it is salpingoophoritis (inflammation of the ovaries and fallopian tubes) and cervicitis (inflammation of the cervix).
In girls, gonococci parasitize only in the vagina, but do not penetrate the uterus and appendages.
In men, it is prostatitis, urethritis, visekulitis (inflamed seminal vesicle).
Extragenital gonorrhea includes diseases of the genital organs caused by gonococci. In addition to the aforementioned gonorrheal diseases of the eyes and oral cavity, it can be proctitis (rectal disease), cystitis, kidney gonorrhea, gonococcemia (joints, skin affected) and sepsis. It should be said that gonococci really do not like the blood serum that kills them in seconds. Therefore, they do not carry blood into the organs from the genitourinary system. But sometimes patients have resistance to serum enzymes. In these cases, gonococci do not die, but spread throughout the body.
Metastatic gonorrhea is a complication and exacerbation of the two previous ones.
How does gonorrhea manifest in women and girls
An amazing and very dangerous feature of this disease is that it can not appear for months or even years at all. This is observed in about 10% of men and 80% of women. Moreover, all these patients are bacteriocarriers. The incubation period for acute gonorrhea can last from 1 day to 1 month after the time of the alleged infection. At the end of the incubation period, some women experience mild itching in anticipation of the vagina and in the anus (with proctitis), sometimes a short pain during urination and notice mild discharge in the form of whites. When gonococci enter the oral cavity, a small percentage of women have inflammation of the tonsils and a slight sore throat. Since gonorrhea is so poorly manifested, treatment in women at the initial stages of the disease is rarely carried out. In most cases, weak symptoms are not given importance and they are tried to cope with them with home remedies.
In girls, gonorrhea is also manifested by itching and swelling of the genitals with purulent-mucous secretions. The general condition of patients at the initial stage of the disease is always normal.
Manifestation of gonorrhea in men
A strong half of humanity quickly notices that something is wrong with their genitourinary system. The first symptoms of gonorrhea in men are a short pain during urination, purulent (sometimes with an unpleasant odor) secretions, slight redness and a slight swelling of the head of the penis. Since gonococci in men penetrate the urethra very quickly after infection, its inflammation begins, or the so-called urethritis.
At first, the symptoms were blurry. In the morning, patients note some soreness and a fast-passing burning sensation when urinating. The urine remains transparent, there are very few purulent threads in it. Unpleasant symptoms intensify after intercourse, taking alcohol and certain types of food. After three weeks, the pronounced symptoms subside, and the disease becomes chronic - with periods of remission and exacerbations - stage.
Diagnostics
Some "wise men", having discovered purulent discharge from their genitals, do not rush to the doctor, but go off to buy "pills for gonorrhea." This often leads to the fact that a person takes unnecessary antibiotics, temporarily removes unpleasant symptoms and puts the disease in a chronic stage, during which gonococci penetrate deeper into the body. In order for the treatment to be effective, it is necessary to conduct a diagnosis. It includes:
- examination by a doctor;
- Analysis of urine;
- obligatory delivery of a smear;
- back sowing (readiness for about a week, but gives 100% accuracy of the result);
- PCR analysis (especially effective in the absence of pronounced symptoms).
A blood test for suspected gonorrhea is not taken. The final diagnosis is established only if gonococci are found in the bacterial culture or in a smear.
Treatment
Gonorrhea is treated on an outpatient basis or in leather dispensaries, as determined by a venereologist. A patient may be referred to a hospital for complications of the disease and for evading outpatient treatment. If the diagnosis of gonorrhea is absolutely accurately established, treatment for women and men is carried out with antibiotics of the penicillin group (Oxacillin, Amoxicillin and others). Unfortunately, gonococci have been rid of these drugs for so long that the bacteria have developed resistance to them at their genetic level. Low sensitivity of gonococci is also noted for tetracycline, ampicillin, spectinomycin groups of drugs. For particularly tenacious forms of bacteria, Ceftriaxone or Rocefin is used. These antibiotics are able to penetrate into any tissues and organs. If a person who has suspected gonorrhea, immediately consult a doctor, treatment can be quick. You will need a single intravenous administration of "Rocefin" in a volume of 250 mg.
Folk methods of getting rid of gonorrhea do not exist. The only thing that can be used from the advice of healers as a supplement to medicines is flushing the genitals with drugs that relieve inflammatory processes (decoction of chamomile, celandine, dandelion roots and other herbs). Needless to say, such procedures are only an addition to drug tolerance.
Complications
The ability of gonococci to adapt and resist drugs must be taken into account by the venereologist when prescribing medications. When a person self-medicates and takes "pills for gonorrhea" on the advice of friends, complications are almost always observed. They, like the primary disease, do not manifest themselves immediately. At first, the patient seems to have completely recovered. For women, complications of gonorrhea are fraught with infertility, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriages. Another dangerous disease caused by untreated or untreated gonorrhea is hydrosalpinx. With this pathology, pus accumulates in the fallopian tube, the external picture resembles a tumor. A woman experiences headaches and lower back pain, fever. If the tube ruptures and pus flows into the pelvic area, pelvioperitonitis begins, which is fraught with death.
No less dangerous is bartholinitis (purulent inflammatory process of the vestibular glands).
In men, the most dangerous consequences of gonorrhea are prostatitis, which can lead to impotence, and epididymitis (inflammation of the testicles), which causes infertility.
Important! No venereal disease, including gonorrhea, gives immunity, so they can be infected an infinite number of times.
Prevention
Specific methods of transmission of gonorrhea determine preventive measures against this disease. The first place in the list is the use of condoms during sexual intercourse in all cases, if there is no 100% confidence in the partner. On the second - personal hygiene.
An important point is the observation by a venereologist for 3 months after the end of treatment and the delivery of control tests.