Gay Cumbria - Sexual Health
Below we have included some of the more important issues surrounding sexual health. If you feel we have not covered a topic which you would like to see please contact us.
Safer Sex | Chlamydia | Herpes | Gonorrhoea | Syphillis | Impotence | Your Mouth
Breast Self Examination | Testicular Examination | Cervical Smear
Male Condoms | Female Condoms
Gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is a venereal disease. The disease most frequently affects 15 to 25-year-olds, although the number of cases has fallen in recent years.
Gonorrhoea is mainly transmitted through sexual contact.
Symptoms of gonorrhoea?
Of those infected, approximately half the women and a third of the men do not show any symptoms. In men, the symptom is painful urination. Pain can often be extremely severe. Discharge may also seen from the tip of the penis. This may appear as a yellowish pus. Homosexual men can develop gonorrhoea in the rectum. This varies from being symptom-free to involving the painful discharge of bloody pus from the rectum.
In women, the symptoms tend to be painful urination and an increasing amount of discharge from the vagina. In both sexes, a throat infection can occur as a result of oral sex with an infected partner. In most cases there are no further symptoms but sometimes a sore throat is accompanied by fever.
People with multiple partners and those who do not practice safe sex are most at risk. A condom can help to cut down on your risk for catching gonorrhoea.
If you think you may have been infected, contact your doctor who will examine you and your partner or partners and provide treatment if necessary. It is necessary to treat any partner as they might re-infect you after your treatment.
Remember that assessment for a sexually transmitted disease is always available at a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic. Gonorrhoea can be detected through obtaining a smear from the Penis tip, urethra, the neck of the uterus, the throat or the rectum then examining it under a microscope. Gonorrhoea can inflammation of the epididymis in men. In women, an untreated consequence of gonorrhoea is closure of the Fallopian tubes. If this happens, the passage of the fertilised egg into the uterus is made difficult and the risk of infertility and ectopic pregnancy increases. In very rare cases, gonorrhoea can spread to the whole body through the veins. This results in painful joints, rashes, high temperature, and shivering. In extreme cases, cerebrospinal meningitis and inflammation of the heart might develop.
Gonorrhoea is treated with antibiotics. If you suspect you are infected, it is extremely important that both you and your partner or partners are examined by a doctor.
