There are various types of sexually transmitted diseases (so-called STDs). One of these diseases is gonorrhea (or gonorrhea). The disease is transmitted mainly in vaginal and anal sex . Sometimes infection occurs by the oral route. Children who are born naturally and who are sick with a mother are also at risk. In domestic conditions, gonorrhea is practically not transmitted.
Diagnosis of gonorrhea
Every person who has sex life, it is desirable to be examined by a doctor at least once a year, it is better often. At each preventive examination the doctor takes a swab of microflora from the genitals for examination. The presence of gonococci in the smear on gonorrhea is a signal about the latent flow of the disease, or its carrier.
The duration of the latent period of infection is on average 3-10 days. Often the disease is asymptomatic. The main signs of gonorrhea are:
- frequent urge to urinate;
- burning, pain while going to the toilet;
- yellowish white discharge from the genitals.
- sometimes the body temperature rises, the throat hurts.
Taking smears for gonorrhea
Depending on the sex of the patient, different techniques are used to take swabs for gonorrhea. A gynecologist takes an analysis for gonococci in women with vaginal mucosa, a swab of cervical and urethra. After a certain amount of material is applied to a special glass and transferred to a laboratory for research. This procedure is not performed during menstruation.
Taking a smear for gonorrhea in men occurs only from the urethra. But such an analysis is not taken from the outflowing pus, but by inserting into the urethra a special probe. Before this, it is recommended to massage the urethra, prostate.
Before taking swabs for gonorrhea, both women and men should stop taking antibiotics, have sexual intercourse, and for 1.5-2 hours before taking the material, refrain from going to the toilet and hygienic procedures.
Analysis of the smear on the gonococcus Neisser in the laboratory
In the laboratory for the diagnosis of gonorrhea used more often bacterioscopic and bacteriological types of research. Sometimes used immunofluorescent, immuno-enzyme, serological methods. The new methods are PCR and LCR.
Bacterioscopic smear test for gonococci
In this method of laboratory analysis, the test material is stained on a slide. Most often, 1% solutions of methylene blue or leffler blue are used for this. When stained with methylene blue, the colored gonococci stand out among the light-blue cells. But bluish color has a purely indicative value, because all cocci are painted in blue.
The decisive conclusion on the results of the analysis is given based on the coloring of the material by the Gram method. This method is that the gonococci discolour from the effects of alcohol, and cocci, which do not belong to the genus Neisseria, remain tinted.
Bacteriological analysis of gonococcal smear
This method of analyzing swabs for gonorrhea is done if the gonococci were not detected during bacterioscopy. The analysis is carried out by "seeding" the material into a special medium. Active reproduction of gonococcal microorganisms will determine the presence of the disease.
Analysis of the smear for gonococci is deciphered as follows:
- a positive result - in the material were found the gonococci of Neisser; is considered positive when the presence of hyperemia with infiltration exceeds a diameter of 5 mm;
- negative result - the DNA of Neisser's gonococci was not found in the sample.
A negative result can also be caused by a poor quality fence of the biomaterial.