Latent Gonorrhea

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Latent gonorrhea

Gonorrhea, as a contagious sexually transmitted disease, has been known to mankind for a long time. Even in ancient Indian books dating from the 4th century BC, a disease was described that resembles gonorrhea in symptoms. Hippocrates wrote about secretions during inflammation of the genital organs in patients in his medical treatises (460-378 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 into everyday life by the ancient Greek physician Galen in the 2nd century AD. In those days, it was mistakenly believed that semen escapes from the male penis, and not purulent discharge, therefore, translated from Greek "gonorrhea" sounds like "semen outflow." Despite the incorrectly chosen name, it stuck and was 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 - "blenorrhea".

Gonorrhea is one of the most common bacterial infections. According to the WHO, gonococci (pathogens) affect from 150 to 180 million people annually. The incidence of gonorrhea is especially high among young people, who do not seem to be very afraid of such severe complications as infertility and impotence.

Latent gonorrhea in a latent (asymptomatic) form is extremely dangerous. She, for example, is found in 75-80% of women. The peculiarity of this form of gonorrhea is the absence of characteristic symptoms, but not the causative agents of the disease. The infection is difficult to detect, since 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 turn into a latent form under the influence of drugs independently prescribed by a person, which, however, cannot completely eliminate the infection, but only make it worse and less noticeable. In this regard, self-treatment of gonorrhea, like any other sexually transmitted disease, is categorically contraindicated. If you have the slightest signs of gonococcal infection or if you have 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 into the rectum, lymph nodes, subepithelial connective tissue and the blood system, affecting the heart, eyes, brain and joints.

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In the latent form of the disease, gonococci are located not on the surface of the mucous membrane, but in enclosed foci in the depths of the tissues, where they are found with great difficulty. When these foci are opened, the infection reaches the surface of the mucous membrane, causing an inflammatory process of the genitourinary organs.

From the moment of infection and until the first clinical symptoms of the disease appear, it usually takes 2 to 5 days. Sometimes the incubation period is extended to 2-3 weeks, which is facilitated by taking antibiotics or other sulfa drugs for self-medication or treatment, for example, flu and sore throat.

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 prolonged incubation period, after which all symptoms of the disease appear.

In medical practice, there are cases of asymptomatic gonorrhea duration up to 2 years in men who have had sexual contact with women infected with gonococci. Some authors associate this with human infection with avirulent gonococci of types III and IV, while others talk about the connection between asymptomatic infection and long-term persistence (survival) of L-form gonococci.

Nevertheless, modern medicine easily copes with the causative agent of the disease, provided that treatment is started in a timely manner. Based on the test results, the doctor prescribes exactly those antibiotics that will be most optimal for a particular patient.

If the 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.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".