Gonorrhea, as a contagious sexually transmitted disease, has been known to mankind since ancient times. Even in ancient Indian books dating back to the 460th century BC, a disease was described that, in terms of symptoms, resembles gonorrhea. Hippocrates wrote about secretions during inflammation of the genital organs in patients in his medical treatises (378-XNUMX BC), they are even mentioned in the Bible. Even then it was known that such secretions are dangerous and lead to infection of other people.
The name of the disease “gonorrhea” was introduced by the ancient Greek physician Galen in the XNUMXnd century AD. In those days, it was erroneously believed that seminal fluid, and not purulent discharge, flows out of the male penis, therefore, in Greek, “gonorrhea” sounds like “semen flow”. Despite the incorrectly chosen name, it has taken root and is firmly entrenched in medical textbooks. The name of the disease “gonorrhea” is used by doctors almost all over the world, only in Germany they say “gonorrhea”, and in France – “blennorrhea”.
Gonorrhea is one of the most common bacterial infections. According to the WHO, gonococci (pathogens) infect between 150 and 180 million people every year. The incidence of gonorrhea is especially high among young people, who, it seems, are not very afraid of such serious complications as infertility and impotence.
Extremely dangerous hidden gonorrhea, occurring in a latent (asymptomatic) form. It, for example, is found in 75-80% of women. The peculiarity of this form of gonorrhea is the absence of characteristic symptoms, but not pathogens. The infection is difficult to detect, because the person continues to feel healthy, while after 2 months the disease becomes chronic. This means that the patient will need a longer treatment and it is good if there are no consequences.
Gonorrhea can go into a latent form under the influence of drugs that a person independently prescribes to himself, which, however, cannot eliminate the infection completely, but only make it worse curable and less noticeable. In this regard, self-treatment of gonorrhea, like any other sexually transmitted disease, is categorically contraindicated. At the slightest sign of infection with gonococci or suspicious sexual contact, you should immediately consult a doctor.
With gonorrhea, as a rule, the mucous membranes of the genitourinary organs are affected: the urethra, vagina, urethra, cervical canal (cervical canal). In the future, the pathogen can spread to the rectum, lymph nodes, subepithelial connective tissue and blood system, affecting the heart, eyes, brain and joints.
With a latent form of the disease, gonococci are located not on the surface of the mucous membrane, but in encysted foci in the depths of the tissues, where they are found with great difficulty. When these foci are opened, the infection comes to the surface of the mucosa, causing an inflammatory process of the genitourinary organs.
From the moment of infection to the appearance of the first clinical symptoms of the disease, it usually takes from 2 to 5 days. Sometimes the incubation period is extended to 2-3 weeks, which is facilitated by the use of antibiotics or other sulfa drugs in self-medication or treatment, for example, of influenza and tonsillitis.
In general, the latent (latent) form of gonorrhea is similar to gonococcal carriage, when the causative agent of the disease, being on the surface of the mucous membrane, does not cause any vascular reaction and the appearance of at least a small amount of exudate – an inflammatory effusion. Sometimes such carriage is just a protracted incubation period, after which all the symptoms of the disease appear.
In medical practice, there are cases of the duration of the asymptomatic form of gonorrhea up to 2 years in men who have had sexual contact with women infected with gonococci. Some authors attribute this to human infection with avirulent gonococci of types III and IV, others talk about the connection of asymptomatic infection with long-term persistence (survival) of gonococci in the L-form.
Nevertheless, modern medicine easily copes with the causative agent of the disease, provided that treatment is started in a timely manner. According to the results of the tests, the doctor prescribes exactly those antibiotics that will be most optimal for a particular patient.
If gonorrhea is fresh and not complicated, then sometimes a single use of drugs is enough. In the case when gonorrhea is chronic, then in addition to the main treatment, immunity is additionally strengthened. In addition, you will need vitamins and lactobacilli, as well as drugs that reduce the effect of chemical drugs on the liver.