The Mayo Clinic describes the seriousness of gonorrhea with its symptoms, complications, and ways to prevent it. Gonorrhea is caused by bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It is normally spread through sexual intercourse—oral, anal, and vaginal. However, it can also be spread to babies during childbirth when the mother is infected, possibly causing the baby to go blind, have sores on its head, and/or have a higher risk of getting infections. Gonorrhea can be asymptomatic or it can symptoms that are different for men and women. For men it causes painful urination, pus-like discharge, and swelling/pain in one testicle. For women it causes increased discharge, painful urination, vaginal bleeding in-between periods, and abdominal/pelvic pain. Additionally, the rectum, eyes, throat, and joints can all be affected by gonorrhea. If gonorrhea spreads into the uterus, it can cause pelvic inflammatory lead which can cause infertility. Men can also become infertile if the epididymis becomes inflamed and is not treated. Abstinence is the best way to ensure you do not get gonorrhea, but using a condom will also help prevention if someone decides they want to have sex. A monogamous relationship where both persons have not had sex before will also help with prevention. It is also helpful to be tested for STIs before having sex with a new partner.
CBS discusses how antibiotic resistance is becoming an issue for treating STD’s, especially gonorrhea. Resistance is a huge problem as there were 583,405 cases of gonorrhea in 2018. This specific infection has become resistant to almost all classes of antibiotics that have been used against it in the past. Now, Ceftriaxone, a cephalosporin, is one of the few left that has great effectiveness against the infection. The CDC explains that the resistance arose as a mutation allowed bacteria to survive against the antibiotics, and it multiplied. Gonorrhea is now a large and urgent public health threat in the United States because of this resistance. Now, the CDC has found some decreased effectiveness with cephalosporins. Thus, the official guidelines have now been updated to use one regimen of injectable cephalosporin (ceftriaxone) with oral azithromycin.
I believe we should talk about sex more and make it less of a taboo topic. Abstinence-only education needs to end in middle and high schools in America. The belief that teens will not have sex because they are told not to is unrealistic and is causing more harm than help. Today, teens and adults are uneducated about how to prevent STDs and have safe sex because they were not properly educated. Even if teens wait until marriage to have sex, their abstinence education will not have taught them how to have safe sex or use birth control. Abstinence is very unrealistic in today’s society as sex is everywhere. Parents should be more available to their children and not make them feel stupid or awkward for asking questions about sex. If parents cannot handle having conversations about sex with their children, they should not be having children in the first place. Sex is a natural part of life, and we need to properly educate teens on how to do it safely so there will be less risk of STDs along with less antibiotic resistance.
Micro Madness 