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Sometimes called "the clap," gonorrhea has been plaguing mankind for thousands of years. It is caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
How Spread:
It is spread through unprotected oral, anal or vaginal sex with an infected person, through semen, vaginal fluids, or from infected cells at the back of the throat. It can be spread to the eyes by hands touching infected fluids and to babies during birth. The resulting pelvic inflammatory infection in women can block fallopian tubes causing sterility or ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. Men can become sterile.
Symptoms:
Half of the men and women infected have no symptoms. Incubation is 2 to 10 days. Women may have pain during urination, in the lower abdomen or during intercourse. Many women may only have a smelly vaginal discharge. Men may have a smelly discharge or itching around the urethra, urinate more often and have pain and swelling in testicles. If contracted from oral sex, it can cause sore throat and swollen glands. It is diagnosed with urine tests in men, cervical swabs for women, and throat and rectum swabs for both.
Treatment: Antibiotics. No sex for seven days after treatment. All partners within 60 days must be examined and treated.
Prevention: Always use a condom or dental dam.
Demographics:
Gonorrhea is also heavily concentrated in the young and has continued to climb back from its 1997 low of 200 cases per 100,000 people aged 15 to 24. Currently, the infection rate is 225 for every 100,000 15- to 19-year-olds and 300 for every 100,000 20- to 24-year-olds, the Toronto Department of Public Health says. However, the rates were almost double this in 1990, so we have not returned to the peak.
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