The disease can cause infections in the genitals, rectum, and throat. It is a very common infection, especially among young people ages 15-24 years. Although the urethra and the uterine cervix serve as the initial sites for gonococcal infection in men and women, respectively, infections of the conjunctiva, pharynx, and rectal mucosa are also reported.
The person can get gonorrhea by having sex with someone who has it. "Having sex” means having anal, oral, or vaginal contact. If the patient is a pregnant woman who has gonorrhea, you can pass the infection to your baby.
The disease is versatile in resisting attack, for example in its ability to develop resistance to antimicrobials and in the antigenic variability by which it evades host defenses, thus persisting and often causing asymptomatic (and undetected) infection.
Gonorrhoea is caused by bacteria (tiny living cells) called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. They can live in the cervix (entrance to the uterus), the urethra (tube where urine comes out), the rectum (back passage), the throat and, occasionally, the eyes.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae Infections
