How To Identify Gonorrhea Symptoms?

Some people are not sure what gonorrhea is even if they have heard something about it. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacteria passed on during sexual intercourse. It can infect the throat, penis, urethra, vagina, anus or cervix. It is commonly known as ‘the drip’ or ‘the clap’.

If left untreated, gonorrhea is a serious health risk which yearly affects around 800,000 men and women in the United States.

Symptoms

Most of the time gonorrhea does not show any symptoms, more so with women. It has been reported that out of five women, four will not have symptoms while out of 10 men only one will not have any symptoms.

When symptoms occur, it usually starts between days 1 to 14 days after exposure.

Some women show symptoms and it would include:

  • Yellow-green or yellow colored vaginal discharges
  • Pain in the abdominal area
  • Vomiting
  • Bleeding between periods
  • Frequent urination
  • Fever
  • Tenderness of swelling of the vulva
  • Irregularities in the menstrual cycle
  • Burning sensation during urination
  • Painful sexual intercourse

IN men, the symptoms will be:

  • Frequent urination
  • Pus-like discharges from the penis
  • Burning pain during urination

Gonorrhea could also cause itching in the anus which happens to both men and women. It can also cause oral infection which causes soreness in the throat making swallowing difficult and painful bowel movements accompanied by discharges.

In men, the symptoms could be mild and show mostly in the morning. This is why people could always be unaware that they are already infected.

Health complications

Complications in pregnancy

Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious complications in pregnancy as it may lead to stillbirth or premature birth.

During birth, the infection can be passed to the fetus by the infected mother. The disease can cause eye, blood, and joint infections. Drops of antibiotics are normally used in the eyes of newborns to prevent the occurrence of serious eye infections that are caused by gonorrhea. The risk of transmitting the infection is greatly reduced when testing and treatment is done to a pregnant woman who has gonorrhea.

Infertility

 

PID or pelvic inflammatory disease is a serious health complication caused by untreated gonorrhea which can lead to infertility in women as it affects the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.

The untreated infection can also lead to infertility in men. The infection can quickly spread from the urethra to the testicles which result in epididymitis, a condition that can give extreme pain and swelling in the scrotum accompanied by fever.

Arthritis

Untreated gonorrhea has been found to develop a condition known as DGI or disseminated gonococcal infection which can cause skin sores and arthritis. Women have a higher risk of acquiring this condition than men, with teen girls having the highest rate of infection.

The symptoms will include:

  • Fever
  • Pain in the joints
  • Lesions or skin rashes

The condition is easily treatable if diagnosed early, but could damage joints permanently if left untreated.

Early Symptoms of HIV

After two to three weeks that a person has been exposed to HIV/AIDS, skin eruptions will appear in some of them. Not every infected individual go through with this and for some, the skin rashes will appear at a later period. But for those who have it after a few weeks, the rashes will go away even when nothing has been done for it, yet will in some later time reappear again. HIV and AIDS may be lumped together, but they are not identical. AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is the last stage of human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. Acquiring an HIV virus would not necessarily progress to AIDS if testing and treatment is done at the early onset of the disease. Every individual body has different ways of fighting the virus and beating it early gives the best prognosis.

A possible sign could be experiencing bumps that are dark and small, slightly raised on the skin of the neck, chest, face or back. The color would range from reddish brown to a deep red to very light skin toned people. However, without testing, this should not be a conclusion that you have HIV when there are over a hundred varieties of skin rashes.

The rash are usually accompanied by a mouth thrush which is brought about by an attack of the Candida albicans yeast, muscle pains and aches, headache, diarrhea, and fever.

The rash usually disappears after a week or two, but the HIV virus stays on. The antiviral quality of elderberry syrup that has low sugar has helped some people overcome the rash.

Corticosteroids are the medicines usually prescribed by doctors when they do not know the cause of the rash as it stops allergy reactions. It may stop or help the inflammation but not the underlying infection of HIV.

Since there are hundreds of rash varieties, the only way to find out if you have the HIV infection is to submit to a test. It has been known that some people have a tendency to break out in rashes from stress or worry. Ringworm is a type of rash that forms into a circle with some lines radiating outwards. Bacterial infections, fungus, and yeast could also cause rashes to break out on the skin. Shingles or herpes zoster is another viral infection that can cause rashes.

It would be presumptuous to assume that you will have an AIDS rash if you have been exposed to an individual with HIV. You will suspect that you have it when you’ve had sexual contact with somebody that you know nothing of. If you are experiencing a rash, the best remedy is to have it diagnosed by a medical professional. It could be very stressful on your part to live in fear should you suspect an HIV infection. There are available effective treatments available for the HIV virus that has helped other infected people to live productive lives.

The time to get an HIV/AIDS test is now while it is still on its early phase.

Important Information Regarding Chlamydia

Chlamydia is seen as a very common sexually transmitted disease (STD) that may or may not show signs and symptoms once an individual is infected. Men and women will feel the same symptoms such as pain during urination, and discharges from the vagina or penis if ever it is manifested.

Chlamydia signs and symptoms will not be manifested in almost 25 to 30% of women and men infected with the disease. Yet, should symptoms be felt, there will be a difference between men and women.

The symptoms in men are:

  • Pain and discharges from the rectal area
  • Stinging pain during urination
  • Pain and tenderness in the testicles
  • Penile discharges

The symptoms in women are:

  • Pain with discharges from the rectum
  • Vaginal discharges
  • Burning pain during urination
  • Painful sensation during sexual intercourse

Chlamydia trachomatis is the bacteria that cause the Chlamydia infection. The greatest risk groups to acquire this very common sexually transmitted infection are the ones who are active sexually with different sexual partners.

It is quite rare for infants to become infected when an infected mother gives a vaginal birth. But, if infection occurs, the infant may be affected by pneumonia and eye infection which is Chlamydia-related.

If symptoms are present it will be the basis for the initial diagnosis. The diagnosis will be fully formed when the necessary discharges are cultured and analyzed.

To fight off the infection, the mode of treatment usually uses antibiotics such as erythromycin, tetracycline, and azithromycin. After four weeks, a follow-up evaluation is necessary to find out if the infection has been eradicated from the body. To contain the spread of the infection, the infected person is requested to inform about the condition to his or her sexual partners. This is also one way of making the other partners submit to an STD testing.

If the treatment is done right away, good results are expected which also does away with any complications that will last a lifetime. On the other hand, delayed or improper treatment will cause additional complications. Chlamydia, if untreated in a woman will cause infection in the fallopian tubes or uterus leading to PID or Pelvic Inflammatory Disease with complications of possible ectopic pregnancy or infertility.

The Chlamydia infection can be prevented if people who are sexually active practice safe sex. Properly using protective barriers such as a condom or having a monogamous relationship where both partners are not infected will prevent this infection. It is also recommended that a yearly Chlamydia infection screening be a requirement for sexually active women. The reason for this is not only for health reasons but also one way of preventing and containing the spread of the infection. Statistics has shown that people infected with Chlamydia seem to be increasing yearly even with the sexual health education programs implemented by the different health organizations.

For this purpose, people are encouraged to take an active role in their individual health by learning everything about sexually transmitted diseases.