Gonorrhea overview


 * Associate Editors-In-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, MBBS [mailto:psingh@perfuse.org]

Overview
Gonorrhea (gonorrhoea in British English) is amongst the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and is caused by Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria gonorrheae. The term comes from Ancient Greek γονόρροια (gonórrhoia), literally "flow of seed"; in ancient times it was incorrectly believed that the pus discharge associated with the disease contained semen.

The first place this bacterium infects is usually the columnar epithelium of the urethra and endocervix. Non-genital sites in which it thrives are in the rectum, the oropharynx and the conjunctivae of the eyes. The vulva and vagina in women are usually spared because they are lined by stratified epithelial cells—in women the cervix is the usual first site of infection.

Gonorrhea spreads during sexual intercourse. Infected women also can pass gonorrhea to their newborn infants during delivery, causing eye infections (conjunctivitis) in their babies (which if left untreated, can cause blindness). Doctors have often attempted to treat this immediately by applying small amounts of silver nitrate to the eyes of all newborn babies. Gonorrhea among females can also be transmitted from one individual to another via contact to surfaces that may still be damp from prior contact.

"The clap"
Gonorrhea is also commonly known by the slang term "the clap". One suggested etymology refers to a traditional treatment used to clear the blockage in the urethra from gonorrheal pus, where the penis would be "clapped" on both sides simultaneously. It could also refer to the painful sting in the male urethra, which feels like the sting of a clap (as in clapping hands) when infected with the disease. Yet another suggested source is from the old French word "clapier", meaning "brothel". Another suggested source for the term is from a notorious 18th century keeper of a brothel, Margaret Clap (better known as "Mother Clap"), though perhaps her name itself was derived from the slang term. This term has, in recent years, come to be used by extension to refer to any unspecified sexually transmitted disease.