Neisseria gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a gram negative diplococcus Neisseria gonorrhoeae (1)

undetected or inadequately treated disease may result in complicated infection of the upper genital tract (uncommon in UK) e.g. - prostatitis or epididymitis in men and salpingitis or pelvic inflammatory disease in women (2)

primary sites of infection include - urethra, endocervix, rectum, pharynx and conjunctiva (1)
the disease is transmitted by direct inoculation of infected secretions from one mucous membrane to another - genital-genital, genital-anorectal, oro-genital or oro-anal contact (3)

most common form of transmission is from sexual contact
non-sexual transmission can occur when an infected mother passes the infection to a newborn child, usually resulting in gonococcal conjunctivitis

Clinical features of the disease vary between genders.

about 50% of females are asymptomatic whereas asymptomatic infection rarely occurs in males
due to this asymptomatic nature, complicated gonococcal infection is more common in women than in men (2)
common symptoms in women may include increased or altered vaginal discharge and lower abdominal pain. It can also be a rare cause of heavy menstrual, postcoital or intermenstrual bleeding due to cervicitis or endometritis (4)

Gonorrhoea is known to facilitate the acquisition and transmission of HIV (2).

Reference:

Last reviewed 01/2018

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