The idea of having a sexually transmitted disease can only be frightening, despite doing everything possible to take all the necessary precautions. One of the most feared ones still today is gonorrhea.
Reducing the number of sexual partners you have in your lifetime appears to decrease your chances, at least on paper, of having a sexually transmitted disease. However, the risk cannot be completely ruled out. It is in fact the same it is important to know what the history of the people with whom you decide to have intimate relationships is, although obviously this is not always possible, in addition to always protect yourself through the use of condoms, which remains essential also for women who take the contraceptive pill, knowing full well how useful it is above all to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
There is no shortage of awareness campaigns to invite everyone to be cautious, but despite this there are those who act almost without realizing it, as if he were convinced that this risk never concerns him personally. One of the most frightening pathologies of this type is gonorrhea, which is proving to be, according to what emerged from some research carried out in the United States, one of the most resistant to the antibiotics used to treat it.
What is gonorrhea and how can you get it
Understanding what the gonorrhea it can only be essential to understand how to protect yourself. This pathology is also known as blenorrhagiaor more commonly called “drain”, and is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacterium (Neisseria gonorrhoeae). Among the consequences there may be more or less serious infections of the urethral tract in men and urogenitals in women, in addition to the possibility that other parts of the body, such as the pharynx, conjunctiva, and rectum, also become infected in both sexes.
At the moment it can be considered one of the most widespread sexually transmitted diseases, even if the use of condom seems to have served reduce its incidence since the 1990s. Despite this, the numbers still appear high: in fact, according to the latest data released by the WHO, there are approximately 78 million new cases ascertained each year.
How to protect yourself from gonorrhea and how to get to the diagnosis (tantasalute.it)
It is possible to take it if you have unprotected sex with an infected person. In some cases, though, it can be the mother to transmit it to the fetus at the time of delivery: if this were to happen, the child would be diagnosed with neonatal conjunctivitis, a problem that cannot be underestimated because contracted at that moment can also lead to blindness. Doctors in these situations still try to act promptly, through prophylaxis immediately after birth (eye drops and antibiotic ointments).
The disease can be though also transmitted from the genitals to other parts of the bodyor, especially if you have unclean hands, which can then infect the conjunctiva.
Trying to get to a diagnosis in a timely manner can be important in many diseases, although in the case of gonorrhea it may not be so simple. In fact, they are the ones who make an impact the incubation timeswhich can be around 30 days for menwhile in the case of donna very often it is even asymptomatic (men have no symptoms in only 10% of cases).
In general it would be essential always use a condom in any sexual intercoursebut it is at the same time pay attention to any “suspicious” signs of malaise that can appear. Women usually experience dysuria (difficulty urinating), stranguria (painful urination), vaginal discharge, and breakthrough spotting (bleeding between periods). Situations like these many patients may have experienced in other situations of their lives, for this reason sometimes you don’t think about gonorrhea. Men, on the other hand, complain of eating water, dysuria, whitish, yellow or green discharge, testicular pain and swelling.
There are situations where transmission can also take place through i reports were, thus causing inflammation in the anus. Swabs of the cervix, urethra, rectum, pharynx, or urinalysis may be needed to arrive at the correct diagnosis. Once identified, we start with a therapy based on antibioticsalthough these are not always effective.