It is the second most common sexually transmitted disease in
America (after chlamydia).
It can be transmitted during any kind of sexual contact
‑- vaginal, oral or anal.
In women, the gonorrhea bacteria frequently enter the body
during vaginal intercourse. Ejaculation by a male partner is not
necessary to spread gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea can also be passed in other ways, including oral sex
and touching an infected person's genitals and then touching your
own eyes, but it is not spread by kissing on the lips.
The bacterium that causes gonorrhea is called Neisseria
gonorrhoeae.
This bacterium thrives in moist areas of the body in women and
men.
Men are more likely than women to feel symptoms of gonorrhea, such
as painful urination.
Women are more prone to complications of gonorrhea, such as pelvic inflammatory disease
(PID), which can lead to infertility.
More than three-fourths of the gonorrhea cases reported to the
U.S. government occur in sexually active people under age 30.
People with gonorrhea also often have chlamydia, another sexually
transmitted disease that may produce no symptoms.
While more than 335,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported in
2003, the last year for which figures are available, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that this
accounts for only half of the nation's gonorrhea cases.
Gonorrhea bacteria cannot easily adhere to membranes of the
vagina in adult women, but can in girls and teenagers.
Away from a moist surface, the gonorrhea bacteria can only live
briefly. They cannot survive or be transmitted from inanimate
objects or surfaces.
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