The incubation period of gonorrhea is the period from infection of a person with gonococcus to the onset of the first symptoms. It is individual for each person and depends on many factors: the number of gonococci caught during intercourse, their pathogenicity, the body's susceptibility to these bacteria and many others.
Gonococcal infection, getting on the mucous membranes of the cervix or in the urethra, provokes inflammation, the latent course of which may be shorter or longer than the generally accepted terms.
Venereologists identify the causes and factors that most effectively affect the duration of the incubation period for gonorrhea:
The gender of the patient. Women tend to have a longer incubation period for gonorrhea than men. This is due to the anatomical structure of the reproductive organs of heterosexual patients. The focus of inflammation caused by a gonococcal infection in male patients is located in the penis, so the symptoms appear faster and more pronounced. Most often, the incubation period in men lasts from a few hours after infection to five days, and in women from one to two weeks.
The state of the immune system of an infected person. If immunity is lowered due to chronic diseases, constant stress, unfavorable environmental conditions, then the first signs of gonorrhea can appear in a month, and sometimes even longer.
The incubation period may increase if a person who has a dubious intimate relationship was taking antibiotics at this time.
The time elapsed from infection to the onset of the first symptoms of gonorrhea depends on where the bacteria were located. Most often, the infection settles on the mucous membranes, but it also happens that gonococci penetrate into the tissues of various organs (uterus, seminal vesicles, appendages) or enter the bloodstream through microtrauma. In this case, the incubation period for gonorrhea increases. Blood has antiseptic properties, under the influence of which many bacteria die.
Age. In young people, gonorrhea is more pronounced, respectively, and the period is shorter, from several hours to two weeks. The older the patient, the less pronounced the picture of the disease, often the disease is asymptomatic, hidden, imperceptibly passing into a chronic form and manifesting itself after a few months.
13 Mar 2014, 11:05
Prevention of gonorrheaGonococcal infection causes a disease that is one of the ten most common sexually transmitted diseases among the world's population from 30 to ...
As for sexually transmitted diseases, many of them do not appear at first, which complicates their diagnosis. The incubation period for gonorrhea can be defined as the time it takes for an infection to manifest its first symptoms in an infected person. This period can be limited to a few days or weeks. In this period of time, the infection practically does not manifest itself in any way and develops secretly. The causative agent of the infection is the gram-negative bacteria diplococci - gonococci. They have a pronounced ability to penetrate the tissues of the human body and infect them.
Due to the fact that gonorrhea initially implies the possibility of a long incubation period, the diagnosis of this disease is seriously difficult. This is aggravated by the fact that in women this infection sometimes turns into a latent form of the disease and clinical symptoms may not appear at all, or it takes at least a month from the moment of infection before they appear. Moreover, during an excessively long incubation period, the course of the disease does not stop and continues to develop, which can lead to pathological organ damage.
Medicine has long established that gonorrhea (gonorrhea) is a sexually transmitted disease and is mainly sexually transmitted. However, there are cases of infection not only as a result of sexual intercourse. This can also happen in public places such as swimming pools, baths, toilets, as well as at the household level. It should be noted that gonococcal bacteria remain viable in the secretions of an infected patient into the external environment for several hours.
Gonorrhea is considered a fairly common and well-studied infectious disease. Indeed, according to statistics from the World Health Organization, more than 200 million people are infected with this disease every year. Due to the fact that not a single person has innate protection against these bacteria, even after undergoing full-fledged treatment, there is always a risk of getting infected again. Therefore, it is impossible to treat this disease lightly, especially since recently, medical practice has shown the development of increased resistance in gonococcal bacteria to modern medicines from the group of antibiotics.
The duration of the incubation period of gonorrhea
As already noted, the length of the incubation period for gonorrhea can vary greatly in time. An important role in this is played by the gender of the infected patient. Unlike men, in whom the incubation period for gonorrhea lasts 2-5 days, in women it usually lasts from 5 to 10 days, and in some cases 1 month or more. Such a relationship between the duration of the incubation period and gender is due to the peculiarities of the anatomical structure of the reproductive organs in people of different sexes.
As for the conventionality of the timing of the incubation period for both men and women, this may be due to the presence of certain individual factors that affect the body. It is important to take into account the general state of immunity of the infected person, the presence of concomitant diseases, as well as the possible intake of antibacterial drugs or antibiotics for any reason. It is impossible to exclude the transition of gonorrhea into a latent form (mainly in women), as a result of which a long incubation period will already be a serious complication of the disease.
The number of pathogenic bacteria, their pathogenicity, the body's susceptibility to this infection and the state of the organs of the reproductive system can have a significant effect on the timing of the incubation period.
Development of gonorrhea during the incubation period
When a person is infected with gonorrhea, the pathogenic bacteria primarily enter the mucous membranes of human organs. In particular, in men, it can be the urethra or the head of the penis, and in women, the vagina or cervix. As already noted above, until a certain time, the pathogenic bacteria do not reveal themselves. However, after entering a favorable environment for themselves, they begin an active process of reproduction, which at the initial stages of the course of the disease gradually leads to the development of an inflammatory process in these organs.
The end of the incubation period of gonorrhea and the first symptoms
With the onset of the first clinical signs of gonorrhea, an infected person goes into the category of patients. The end of the incubation period can be indicated by the appearance of the following symptoms:
- a burning sensation and purulent discharge from the organs of the genitourinary system;
- swelling of the genitals;
- urination becomes more frequent and accompanied by pain;
- there is an increase in the inguinal lymph nodes;
- possibly an increase in body temperature.
If, at the first symptoms, the disease is not diagnosed in time and the correct treatment is not started, then the patient may experience serious complications with damage to organs located near the focus of infection. Given the ability of gonococcal bacteria to penetrate into other organs over time, if the course of treatment is not completed, complications may develop on such organs as:
- prostate;
- epididymis or uterus;
- rectum;
- organs of the lymphatic system.
An important rule of thumb for patients with gonorrhea
Due to the fact that gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease and is mainly sexually transmitted, then anyone who has this disease is obliged to inform his sexual partner about it. Based on medical practice, this rule usually applies to a man, and in most cases it is he who bears increased responsibility to his sexual partner. Indeed, in women, gonorrhea, the incubation period of which is quite long, may not make itself felt. And since the disease in women tends to move from the incubation period to a latent form, its untimely treatment can lead to very serious complications. Together with a venereologist, a sick man can quite clearly determine the time of the beginning of the incubation period and, on the basis of this, find out which of his partners may be at risk.
Treatment and prevention of gonorrhea
The main and most important condition for the successful treatment of gonorrhea is the timely detection of symptoms at an early stage and the passage of a course of therapy.
According to medical practice, the main cause of serious complications is usually untimely medical assistance in the treatment of the disease.
When establishing a diagnosis, it is necessary:
- complete the course of treatment and not interrupt it;
- refrain from sexual intercourse during the course of the course;
- if, after the completed treatment course, they are preserved or resumed, you must immediately inform your attending physician about this.
Usually, the same measures are applied to prevent gonorrhea as for all sexually transmitted infections. Prevention of gonorrhea, first of all, includes adherence to a number of simple recommendations, including such as:
- exclusion of casual sexual intercourse, and if there are any, it is imperative to use protective equipment;
- compliance with the rules of personal hygiene;
- passing periodic medical examinations (especially for women);
- if symptoms of gonorrhea are detected, it should not be delayed with qualified treatment;
- exclusion of self-treatment due to the possible development of serious pathological complications.
Any disease is easier to prevent than to cure, and gonorrhea is no exception.
27.06.2017
Tripper is a common sexually transmitted disease. It takes the 2nd place in the number of infected people in the world.
A distinctive feature of this venereal disease from others is that its symptoms appear in the first days after intercourse, that is, gonorrhea has a short incubation period.
The name in the common people gonorrhea was given to this disease by the name of the doctor who first diagnosed it. The classic name of the disease is gonorrhea (gono - seed, rhea - expiration). But it is not the semen that flows out, but the purulent discharge.
The period of time between the ingress of the gonococcus on the target organ before the onset of the first symptoms is called the incubation period. This time can vary from one to fifteen days. Most often it is 2-5 days.
Gonorrhea is transmitted mainly through sexual contact, very rarely through household or during childbirth, when a child becomes infected from a sick mother.
Specificity of the incubation period
The incubation period of gonorrheavery much depends on the sex of the patient. Incubation in women, as a rule, takes much longer, up to a month or more. In turn, in men, the incubation period is mainly 2-5 days.
On the incubation period of gonorrheaa great influence is exerted by the place where the pathogen got. The terms described above are valid if the target organ for the gonococcus is the genitals.
Gonococcus entering the anus is asymptomatic for up to 3 months or more. Also, a long incubation period is typical when a gonococcal infection enters the oral cavity. In this case, gonorrheal pharyngitis develops, which is manifested by pain and purulent discharge from the throat. In this disease, the incubation period can be up to 3 months. From all of the above, we can conclude that the appearance of the first symptoms of gonorrhea depends not only on the sex of the patient, but also on the location of the disease.
In case of gonorrhea, the following factors can influence the increase in the incubation period:
- taking medications, especially antibiotics;
- everyday transmission, although rare, and mainly concerns women.
The following factors influence the decrease:
- chronic diseases: tuberculosis, diabetes mellitus.
- combination of gonorrhea with other venereal pathologies: chlamydia, mycoplasmosis, bacterial vaginitis;
- low immunity;
- alcoholism, drug addiction, tobacco smoking.
It should be noted that low immunity, alcoholism or drug addiction cannot be a mechanism contributing to the appearance of the disease. On the contrary, these factors can hide the symptoms of the disease, which will cause difficulties in its diagnosis.
Gonococcal infection in men and women
When an infection enters the genitourinary tract, men and women develop a number of diseases that are inherent in their anatomical structure. Symptoms of gonococcal in men:
- purulent discharge;
- itching and burning in the urethra;
- the head turns red from the discharge;
- itchy head
- itching while urinating;
- painful sensations during sexual intercourse
- the acute period can be characterized by an increase in lymph nodes.
One of the diseases manifested with gonorrhea in men, is acute urethritis. 3-5 days pass before the first symptoms appear in this pathology. Sometimesincubation period of gonorrheamay be longer. Symptoms of acute urethritis are manifested in the form of purulent discharge from the urethra. At first, the discharge is small, but then it becomes more abundant, purulent and foul-smelling. This discharge is a distinctive feature of gonococcal urethritis from chlamydial urethritis.
In women, the disease is more pronounced and has various forms. The appearance of the first signs of gonorrhea in women begins 1-3 days after the gonococcal pathogen enters the genital mucosa. Increase up to 2-3 weeks is more likely. Possibly asymptomatic course of the disease.
Female symptoms:
- redness of the genitals and labia;
- itching in the genital area;
- yellow-green discharge;
- frequent urge to urinate;
- swollen lymph nodes;
- painful sensations during prolonged periods.
One of the diseases when the pathogen enters the genitals in women is gonococcal vaginitis. With this pathology, swelling and redness appear on the vaginal mucosa. Medical examination of women is very painful, it makes them unpleasant.
Vaginal discharge may mean that the infection manifested itself as a disease of gonococcal cervicitis. Symptoms appear within ten days, they are more pronounced, in contrast to chlamydial cervicitis.
The continuation of the disease can be an ascending infection leading to acute endometritis. Typical symptoms for him are heavy and prolonged menstrual flow. Ascending gonorrhea can have the following complications:
- nausea and vomiting;
- loose stools;
- temperature increase;
- lower abdominal pain;
- violation of the menstrual cycle.
Further penetration of the infection leads to salpingitis. The most disastrous consequences of salpingitis are scarring of the fallopian tubes, resulting in infertility.
The consequence of the development of cervicitis can be the penetration of the pathogen into the rectal region. The disease resulting from this - anorectal gonorrhea ... It is possible that this pathology may arise from a direct hit of the gonococcus into the rectum, but such cases are rare.
Gonorrhea in pregnant women and newborns
Infection with a gonococcal infection of pregnant women in the future can cause complications in the newborn. The consequence of gonorrhea disease for the expectant mother is premature birth or intrauterine fetal death.
A newborn may have gonococcal conjunctivitis. The incubation period for this infection is from 1 to 3 days.
Gonococcal conjunctivitis in a child has the following symptoms:
- clumping and redness of the eyelids;
- purulent discharge;
- the mucous membrane of the eye becomes inflamed, and redness occurs;
One of the consequences of conjunctivitis in a child is that the cornea of the eyes becomes covered with ulcers, and then blindness develops. Girls are at risk of genital injury. When they become infected, purulent discharge appears.
For pregnant mothers, extra precautions should be taken to rule out such diseases in newborns. Therefore, it is very important to get tested in order to identify and protect the expectant mother and her child from serious complications.
Prevention and diagnostics
For the incubation period, as well as with a bright course, timely diagnosis is very important. For this purpose, smears of the bioflora of the organs of the urinary system are used. Basically, a smear is done in the area of the urogenital tract, for the presence of gonococcal infection.
If no more than 3 days have passed since the beginning of the entry of the gonococcus into the body, in some cases up to 10 days, one-time prophylaxis of gonorrhea can be done. Prevention is done when the patient is not sure of his sexual partner, or, on the contrary, knows about his illness, and his symptoms do not appear. With any suspicion of gonorrhea or its first symptoms, you should consult a venereologist and undergo drug prophylaxis. This trip will help alleviate or even eliminate the need for treatment for this sexually transmitted disease.
The condom is the most reliable means of protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Sexual intercourse without a condom multiplies the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. In this case, you can apply various antiseptic agents:
- Miramistim;
- Gibital;
- Tsidipol.
These funds destroy venereal pathogens, but do not give one hundred percent guarantee. Their effectiveness decreases as the time elapsed from the moment of infection increases.
A person who has had gonorrhea does not develop immunity to it, so the risk of re-infection is quite high.
Infection with gonorrhea occurs during sexual intercourse, but a woman can also become infected through everyday use, for example, when another patient is using a washcloth. Gonorrhea is also transmitted through oral-genital contact, since its causative agent (gonococcus) nests in the tonsils.
The incubation period of gonorrhea
The incubation period for gonorrhea is usually 3-5 days, but it can reach two weeks. The weaker the organism, the lower its resistance, which means a longer incubation period.
You should be aware that immunity is not developed in this disease, and therefore, repeated (after cure) infection with gonorrhea is possible.
Signs of gonorrhea
The first signs of gonorrhea in men are burning and mucus from the urethra. After a few days, swelling of the external opening of the urethra begins, redness, pain when urinating and discharge of pus.
Later (if treatment is not started) gonococcus affects the internal genital organs - inflammation of the epididymis begins, accompanied by acute pain and redness of the scrotum.
Complications of gonorrhea
Complications of gonorrhea are scars of the vas deferens and infertility. With the development of gonorrheal prostatitis, sexual weakness occurs.
Gonorrhea in women
In women, with gonorrhea, the urethra, the glands at the entrance to the vagina, the uterus, the fallopian tubes, and sometimes the mucous membrane of the vagina and anus are affected. Just like in men, the development of the disease begins on average 3-4 days after infection. However, unlike the latter, in women, the disease often goes unnoticed.
The clinical picture of the disease depends on the localization of the process. Leucorrhoea, the urethra is affected, redness of its external entrance, pain and cramps during urination and mucopurulent discharge appear. With the defeat of the uterine cavity - purulent leucorrhoea and pain in the lower abdomen. In case of damage to the glands, purulent discharge. When passing into a chronic form, all these symptoms are expressed very slightly.
Treatment of gonorrhea
Treatment of gonorrhea in women is much more difficult than in men. Due to the structural features of the external and internal genital organs of a woman, the infection easily penetrates into the most distant areas, causing various inflammatory processes (up to inflammation of the peritoneum), leading to infertility.
Currently, the course of gonorrhea (both in women and in men) has changed dramatically. In many cases, it proceeds imperceptibly and sluggishly.
It is especially difficult to deal with gonorrhea when it is combined with trichomoniasis. In this case, the gonococci are captured by Trichomonas, which contributes to the preservation of the infection, since many antibiotics do not act on the gonococci that are inside the Trichomonas.
Often there is a simultaneous infection with gonorrhea and syphilis. In this case, the symptoms of one disease can be obscured by the signs of another. In this regard, before starting treatment, a patient with gonorrhea is checked whether he is also sick with syphilis.
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection. According to statistics, it ranks second in prevalence in the world among all sexually transmitted diseases. During gonorrhea, like any other disease, a number of successive stages are distinguished, which have their own characteristic features. About the features of the incubation period of gonorrhea and its differences in men and women - in our review.
Characteristics of pathology
Gonorrhea is a disease occurring with infectious and inflammatory lesions of the mucous epithelium of the genitourinary organs. The name of the infection consists of two Greek words "gonos" - seed and "rheia" - to flow (literally - seed production). Due to the widespread prevalence of gonorrhea has many "popular" names - fracture, gonorrhea, hussar runny nose. It is caused by gram-negative paired cocci from the Neiserria family.
Acute gonorrhea, the incubation period of which is replaced by a stage of clinical manifestations, is characterized by vivid symptoms and pronounced signs of general intoxication. The chronic form of pathology, which develops in the absence of proper treatment for inflammation, almost does not manifest itself in any way.
Gonorrheal infection is anthroponosis (only people get sick). The pathogenic microbe is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person when:
- sexual contact;
- sharing personal belongings - washcloths, towels, linen;
- passing through the infected genital tract in newborns.
It is very easy to become infected with gonorrhea, the high virulence and pathogenicity of the pathogen is due to the presence of the following factors: drank - they attach to the mucous membrane of the genital tract and mouth, help further invasion of the gonococcus into the epithelial layer; capsule - reduces the effectiveness of the phagocytic response; surface proteins. Among them: Por - promotes the survival of bacteria in the cytoplasm; Opa - explains intracellular invasion; Rmp - protects surface antigens from antibodies; Los is an endotoxin; IgAl protease - destroys specific immunoglobulins; beta-lactamase - inhibits the activity of penicillin antibiotics.
Gonorrhea occupies one of the leading positions in the prevalence of lesions of the genitourinary organs. The pathogen is actively introduced into healthy tissues due to the following factors:
- Some gonococcal antigens are difficult to recognize by the defense system due to their structural similarity to human proteins. This explains the development of torpid (sluggish) infection, especially in immunocompromised individuals.
- The ability of the pathogen to penetrate into healthy cells disrupts the processes of phagocytosis - the absorption of microorganisms by macrophages, one of the elements of immune defense. Pronounced polymorphism, detection of intra- and extracellular diplococci by microscopy of biological material is one of the diagnostic signs of gonorrhea.
- The enzymes of pathogenicity - hyaluronidase and protease - contribute to the rapid spread of infection from the bottom up. That is why, without timely treatment, gonorrhea in men is complicated by prostatitis and orchitis, in women - by adnexitis, salpingitis, endometritis.
- Specific bacteriocins and lysozyme of gonococci inhibit the growth of normal microflora and provoke the development of dysbiosis. This prevents recovery and contributes to the chronicity of the pathological process.
Depending on the place of introduction and preferential damage to organs and tissues, gonorrhea can manifest itself: urethritis - the urethra becomes inflamed; cervicitis - the cervix; salpingitis - oviducts (fallopian tubes); proctitis - rectum; bacteremia - a generalized spread of infection throughout the body; arthritis - inflammation of the joints; conjunctivitis (neonatal blennorrhea) - inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye; pharyngitis - inflammation of the pharynx.
Read also on the topic
Gonorrhea, what is the disease, its signs and treatment
In more than 60% of cases, gonorrhea does not occur in isolation, but in combination with other STIs. Frequent "companions" of the disease are trichomoniasis, chlamydia, mycoplasmosis, ureaplasmosis. With a complex infectious lesion, the clinical manifestations of individual diseases are erased, and it is difficult to identify the pathogen solely by symptoms.
The classic course of the disease is characterized by the following symptoms:
- itchy burning sensation in the urethra;
- lower abdominal pain;
- discomfort, pain when urinating;
- in men - abundant discharge of white color (more often purulent), staining underwear;
- gonorrhea in women is manifested by watery or mucous discharge of a green or yellowish color with an unpleasant odor; many patients complain of an increase in unpleasant symptoms for several days after menstruation;
- general signs of intoxication are weakness, fatigue, decreased performance, sometimes subfebrile body temperature.
The disease goes through a number of successive stages:
- The incubation period - with gonorrhea, ranges from 2-3 days to a week or more.
- The prodromal period is no more than 1-2 days.
- The period of clinical manifestations of the disease. It is classified as follows: fresh gonorrhea - lasts no more than 2 months - acute, subacute, torpid; chronic - duration more than 2 months or not defined.
- Convalescence period (subject to adequate and timely treatment).
What is the incubation period
The incubation period is the time from the entry of the pathogen into the body until the first manifestation of the disease appears.
Note! The concept of the incubation period should not be confused with the term "latent period", meaning the time interval between the introduction of an infection into the body and the beginning of a person's ability to infect others with it. The latter is usually shorter.
Each infectious disease has its own strictly defined incubation period. For example, the first symptoms of foodborne toxicity develop several hours or even minutes after the pathogen enters the gastrointestinal tract, and Creutzfelt-Jakob disease does not manifest itself in any way for decades after infection.
Features of the course of incubation of gonococcus
And what are the distinguishing features of the incubation period for gonorrhea, and how long does it last? The time that passes from the moment the pathogen is introduced to the appearance of the first symptom of infection is strictly individual. Reduce the duration of the incubation period:
- the presence of concomitant STIs - mycoplasmosis, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, ureaplasmosis;
- transmission of infections associated with gonococcus at the time of infection;
- bacterial vaginosis in women;
- concomitant somatic pathology (diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis);
- alcohol abuse;
- HIV and other forms of immunodeficiency (congenital and acquired);
- postpartum period in women.
Increase the incubation period: antibiotic treatment, household transmission of infection, stress, excess nutrition.
Gonorrhea in men
The amount of time it takes for gonorrhea to develop vivid clinical symptoms is slightly longer in men than in women. This is due to the differences in the anatomical structure of the organs of the urinary system.
The first signs of the disease after contact with the source of infection appear after 2-4 days. This time period can be shortened up to 12-36 hours and lengthened up to 2-3 weeks.
In the high-risk group, men with anatomical and functional disorders of the structure of the genitourinary organs. They are more likely to develop an infection than healthy people. Facilitate infection:
- hypospadias - an atypical location of the urethral opening (on the side or on top of the glans penis, in the perineum or scrotum);
- wide opening of the urethra;
- balanoposthitis - inflammation of the head of the penis and its foreskin.
Loading...
