Dr. Charles Oti, an Abuja based gynaecologist, has advised sexually active women to go for routine check to detect early symptoms of gonorrhea and other bacterias that could lead to infertility.
Oti gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
The expert described gonorrhea as a common human Sexually Transmitted Infection caused by the bacterium neisseria gonorrhoeae.
He said the bacteria were transmitted from one person to another through vaginal, oral or anal sex.
Oti said women were at 60 to 80 per cent risk of getting infected from a single act of vaginal intercourse.
He said men were at 20 per cent risk of getting infected from a single act of vaginal intercourse with an infected woman.
According to him, the risk for men who had sex with men was higher, noting that a mother could also transmit gonorrhea to her new born during child birth.
The expert said that it affects the infant’s eye, which was referred to as ophthalmia neonatorum.
However, Oti explained that gonorrhoea cannot be contracted through toilet or bathrooms.
He further said that the risk of infection can be reduced significantly by using condoms and by having a mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected person.
Some women with the bacteria are asymptomatic (do not shown signs), whereas others have vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain or pain during intercourse.
He said that most infected men have symptoms such as urethratis associated with burning during urination and discharge from the penis.
Gonorrhoea, if left untreated, may last for weeks or months with higher risks of complications.
Oti said: “One of which includes systemic dissemination resulting in skin pustules or petechia, septic arthritis, meningitis or endocarditics.
“In men, inflammation of the epididymis, prostate gland and urethral structure, while in women the most common result of untreated gonorrhoea is pelvic inflammatory disease.”
Obi said that other complications include septic arthritis in the fingers, wrists, toes and ankles; septic abortion; chorioamnionitis during pregnancy, neonatal or adult blindness from conjunctivitis and infertility.
Oti said that due to the increasing rates of antibiotics resistance local susceptibility patterns must be taken into account when deciding on treatment.