Prostate Diseases—Gonorrhea

Also called: The clap

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease. It is most common in young adults. The bacteria that cause gonorrhea can infect the genital tract, mouth, or anus. You can get gonorrhea during vaginal, oral, or anal sex with an infected partner. A pregnant woman can pass it to her baby during childbirth.

Gonorrhea does not always cause symptoms. In men, gonorrhea can cause pain when urinating and discharge from the penis. If untreated, it can cause problems with the prostate and testicles.

In women, the early symptoms of gonorrhea often are mild. Later, it can cause bleeding between periods, pain when urinating, and increased discharge from the vagina. If untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which causes problems with pregnancy and infertility.

Your health care provider will diagnose gonorrhea with lab tests. Treatment is with antibiotics. Treating gonorrhea is becoming more difficult because drug-resistant strains are increasing. Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading gonorrhea.

NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

• Condom Fact Sheet in Brief (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – PDF
• Endocervical gram stain (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Gonococcal arthritis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Gonorrhea (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Rectal culture (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Urethral discharge culture (Medical Encyclopedia)

The prostate is a gland in men. It helps make semen, the fluid that contains sperm. The prostate surrounds the tube that carries urine away from the bladder and out of the body. A young man’s prostate is about the size of a walnut. It slowly grows larger with age. If it gets too large, it can cause problems. This is very common after age 50. The older men get, the more likely they are to have prostate trouble.

Some common problems are

• Prostatitis – inflammation, usually caused by bacteria
• Enlarged prostate (BPH), or benign prostatic hyperplasia – a common problem in older men which may cause dribbling after urination or a need to go often, especially at night
• Prostate cancer – a common cancer that responds best to treatment when detected early

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

• Digital rectal exam (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Prostatitis – acute (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Prostatitis – nonbacterial (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Prostatitis-bacterial – self-care (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Urinary Retention – NIH (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)