The bacteria present in gonorrhea grow in the anal canal, cervix, urethra, as well as the pharynx. If undetected, the disease can spread from the cervix to the lining of the uterus and into the fallopian tubes. Here it causes intense endometritis or contamination of the covering of the uterus and salpingitis or aggravation of the fallopian tubes, the latter of which can bring about formation of abscess and in the long term, damage the tubes irreparably. Intense tubal infection produces stomach pain and anomalous menstrual dying. If the contamination remains unchecked, it spreads into the pelvic cavity, where it prompts an extremely generalized illness called pelvic inflammatory disease or PID.
Now and then gonococcal contamination can spread into the circulatory system and lead to such critical results as the disease of the lining of the cerebrum, or of a heart valve, endocarditis, and meningitis. Gonococcal disease in pregnancy is perilous to both mother and kid and is linked to impeded development of the baby, untimely rupture of the membranes, and premature delivery of the baby. At the point when gonorrhea is transmitted to an infant, it can bring about a type of conjunctivitis that may prompt visual deficiency. Administering silver nitrate drops, topical antibiotics, or other antibacterial agents to the eyes of newborns prevents this infection and is a legal requirement in the United States and many other countries.
Diagnosis and Treatment
The bacteria are cultivated straight from the cervix or another perceptibly infected site, including the rectum or the urethra. A swab is taken from the discharge from the area plagued with infection, and the material is kept in a special culture medium to grow, a procedure that takes more than a day. At the same time, the discharge can be scrutinized under the microscope with special stains, and the bacteria, with their distinctive shape as well as staining properties, may be marked, permitting immediate management. Growing the organism in a culture aids the doctor in identifying which antibiotics are most effective in curing the infection.
Some organisms become resistant to many antibiotics; the number of drug-resistant cases of gonorrhea rose from fewer than ten thousand a year in 1985 to nearly sixty thousand a year in 1990. Drug resistance implies newer and more prevailing antibiotics must be utilized to cure the infection, not that it is incurable.
Gonorrhea can be eradicated by one or more of some antibiotics, many in the penicillin, tetracycline, or erythromycin family. One of the most common treatments that have been proven effective is a combination of ceftriaxone and doxycycline. Sexual partners have to undergo treatment as well.