GONORRHEA
Gonorrhea is a very common sexually transmitted disease that has been around for hundreds of years. Gonorrhea is caused by a bacterium that grows in warm, moist places in the body such as a woman’s cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes and (in both sexes) the urethra. You can become infected with gonorrhea through not only vaginal sex but oral and anal as well. Gonorrhea tends to grow and increase in the mouth, throat, anus and eyes. Gonorrhea is usually treated with antibiotics such as penicillin. Some strains of gonorrhea can be resistant to traditional antibiotics that seemed to have worked in the past. Fortunately new drugs are being used to treat patients that have these strains.
Gonorrhea is accompanied by symptoms such as a discharge from the penis or vagina. This is not to say that if you have a discharge that it may not be a symptom of a lesser problem such as a yeast infection. Difficulty urinating or painful urinating is another symptom.
If left untreated gonorrhea can lead to serious complications in women. Pelvic Inflammatory disease (PID) can develop which can leave a woman sterile. A woman may also experience an ectopic pregnancy (fertilized egg implants outside the uterus).
Remember that not everyone will have the symptoms of this STD and the only way to be sure is to see a qualified physician for diagnosis.
