• Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a Gram-negative diplococcus, typically flattened where the cocci meet.
• Aerobic (def).

Habitat

• Humans are the only natural host.

Source

• Transmitted sexually by contact with an infected individual; may be transmitted from mother to baby during birth.

Clinical Disease

• CDC estimates that more than 700,000 persons in the U.S. get new gonorrheal infections each year. Only about half of these infections are reported to CDC. In 2002, 351,852 cases of gonorrhea were reported in thr U.S..
• Neisseria gonorrhoeae typically infects the mucous membranes causing infections such as urethritis (def), cervicitis (def), salpingitis (def), pelvic inflammatory disease (def), proctitis (def), conjunctivitis (def), and pharyngitis (def).
• In males there is typically a 2-3 day incubation period after which a purulent (def) discharge from the urethra and dysuria (def) develops. Around 95% of infected males are symptomatic. Rare complications include prostatitis (def), epididymitis (def), and periurethral abcesses (def).
• The gonococcus primarily infects the cervix in women. Symptoms include vaginal discharge, dysuria (def), and abdominal pain. Complications from an ascending infection include absesses of the ovarian tubes and pelvic inflammatory disease (def). Around 10%-20% of infected women develop these complications.
• In 1%-3% of infected women and a lower percentage of infected men the bacterium disseminates via the blood causing bacteremia (def) and arthritis (def).
• Congenital gonorrhea typically appears as ophthalmia neonatorum (def) and occurs as a result of the eyes of newborns becoming infected as the baby passes through the birth canal. Antibiotic drops are put in the eyes of newborns to prevent congenital gonorrhea and congenital Chlamydia infection.

From Gonococcal Infections, by Larry I Lutwick, MD, Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Health Care System, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, State University of New York at Downstate; Renuka Heddurshetti, MD, Fellow in Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, State University of New York at Brooklyn; and Sanda Cebular, MD, Fellow, Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, State University of New York at Brooklyn.