The more common complications of gonorrhea are inflammation of the glands in the groin (bubo), acute inflammation of the prostate glands and bladder, of the seminal vesicles, or of the testicles. The latter complication is a most common cause of sterility in men. Formerly it was thought that gonorrhea was a local inflammation confined to the urinary canal and neighboring parts, but advances in our knowledge have shown that the germs may be taken up into the general circulation and affect any part of the body, such as the muscles, joints, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, etc., with results always serious and often fatal to life. One of the most common complications is gonorrheal arthritis, which may affect one or several joints and result in stiffness or complete loss of movement of the affected joint, with more or less deformity and permanent disability. Another complication is gonorrheal inflammation of the eye, from direct transference of the pus by the fingers or otherwise, and resulting in partial or complete blindness.
GONORRHEA IN WOMEN.—Gonorrhea in women is a much more frequent and serious disease than was formerly supposed. The general impression among the laity is that gonorrhea in women is limited to the prostitute and vicious classes who indulge in licentious relations. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There is perhaps more gonorrhea, in the aggregate, among virtuous and respectable wives than among professional prostitutes, and the explanation is the following: A large proportion of men contract the disease at or before the marrying age. The great majority are not cured, and the disease simply lapses into a latent form. Many of them marry, believing themselves cured, and ignorant of the fact that they are bearers of contagion. They transmit the disease to the women they marry, many of whom, from motives of modesty and an unwillingness to undergo an examination do not consult a physician, and they remain ignorant of the existence of the disease until the health is seriously involved. In women, gonorrhea is not usually so acute and painful as in men, unless it involves the urethra. It usually begins with smarting and painful urination, with frequent desire to urinate and with a more or less abundant discharge from the front passage. In the majority of cases the infection takes place in the deeper parts, that is, in the neck or body of the womb. In this location it may not give rise at first to painful symptoms, and the patient often attributes the increased discharge to an aggravation of leucorrhea from which she may have suffered. The special danger to women from gonorrhea is that the inflammation is apt to be aggravated during the menstrual period and the germs of the disease ascend to the cavity of the womb, the tubes, and ovaries, and invade the peritoneal covering, causing peritonitis. Pregnancy and childbirth afford favorable opportunities for the upward ascension of the germs to the peritoneal cavity. The changes caused by gonorrheal inflammation in the maternal organs are the most common cause of sterility in women. It is estimated that about fifty per cent of all sterility in women proceeds from this cause. In addition to its effects upon the child-bearing function, the danger to the health of such women is always serious. In the large proportion of cases they are made permanent invalids, no longer able to walk freely, but compelled to pass their lives in a reclining position until worn out by suffering, which can only be relieved by the surgical removal of their maternal organs. It is estimated that from fifty to sixty per cent of all operations performed on the maternal organs of women are due to disease caused by gonorrheal inflammation.
Treatment.—Rest in bed, the use of injections of hot water, medicated with various astringents, by means of a fountain syringe in the front passage three times daily, and the same remedies and bath recommended above, with hot sitz baths, will usually relieve the distress. In view of the serious character of this affection in women and its unfortunate results when not properly treated, it is important that they should have the benefit of prompt and skillful treatment by a physician. Otherwise, the health and life of the patient may be seriously compromised.
The social danger of gonorrhea introduced after marriage is not limited to the risks to the health of the woman. When a woman thus infected bears a child the contagion of the disease may be conveyed to the eyes of the child in the process of birth. Gonorrheal pus is the most virulent of all poisons. A single drop of the pus transferred to the eye may destroy this organ in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It is estimated that from seventy-five to eighty per cent of all babies blinded at birth have suffered from this cause, while from twenty to thirty per cent of blindness from all causes is due to gonorrhea. While the horrors of this disease in the newborn have been mitigated by what is called the Crédé method (instillation of nitrate of silver solution in the eye immediately after birth), it still remains one of the most common factors in the causation of blindness. Another social danger is caused by the pus being conveyed to the genital parts of female children, either at birth or by some object upon which it has been accidentally deposited, such as clothes, sponges, diapers, etc. These cases are very common in babies' hospitals and institutions for the care of children. Quite a number of epidemics have been traced to this cause. The disease occurring in children is exceedingly difficult of cure and is often followed by impairment in the development of their maternal organs. Much of the ill health of young girls from disordered menstruation and other uterine diseases may be traced to this cause. Another serious infection in babies and young children is gonorrheal inflammation of the joints, with more or less permanent crippling.
SYPHILIS; THE POX; LUES.—Syphilis is a contagious germ disease affecting the entire system. While commonly acquired through sexual intercourse with a person affected with the disorder, it may be inherited from the parents, one or both. It is often acquired through accidental contact with sources of contagion. Syphilis and tuberculosis are the two great destroyers of health and happiness, but syphilis is the more common.
Symptoms.—Acquired syphilis may be divided into three stages: the primary, secondary, and tertiary. The first stage is characterized by the appearance of a pimple or sore on the surface of the sexual organ not usually earlier than two, nor later than five to seven, weeks after sexual intercourse. The appearance of this first sore is subject to such variations that it is not always possible for even the most skillful physician to determine positively the presence of syphilis in any individual until the symptoms characteristic of the second stage develop. Following the pimple on the surface of the penis comes a raw sore with hard deposit beneath, as of a coin under the skin. It may be so slight as to pass unnoticed or become a large ulcer, and may last from a few weeks to several months. There are several other kinds of sores which have no connection with syphilis and yet may resemble the syphilitic sore so closely that it becomes impossible to distinguish between them except by the later symptoms to be described. Along with this sore, lumps usually occur in one or both groins, due to enlarged glands.
The second stage appears in six to seven weeks after the initial sore, and is characterized by the occurrence of a copper-colored rash over the body, but not often on the face, which resembles measles considerably. Sometimes a pimply or scaly eruption is seen following this or in place of the red rash. At about, or preceding, this period other symptoms may develop, as fever, headache, nausea, loss of appetite, and sleeplessness, but these may not be prominent. Moist patches may appear on the skin, in the armpits, between the toes, and about the rectum; or warty outgrowths in the latter region. There is sore throat, with frequently grayish patches on the inside of the cheeks, lips, and tongue. The hair falls out in patches or, less often, is all lost. Inflammation of the eye is sometimes a symptom. These symptoms do not always occur at the same time, and some may be absent or less noticeable than others.
The third stage comes on after months or years, or in those subjected to treatment may not occur at all. This stage is characterized by sores and ulcerations on the skin and deeper tissues, and the occurrence of disease of different organs of the body, including the muscles, bones, nervous system, and blood vessels; every internal organ is susceptible to syphilitic change.
A great many affections of the internal organs—the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, brain, and cord—which were formerly attributed to other causes, are now recognized as the product of syphilis. The central nervous system is peculiarly susceptible to the action of the syphilitic poison, and when affected may show the fact through paralysis, crippling, disabling, and disfiguring disorders.
Years after cure has apparently resulted, patients are more liable to certain nervous disorders, as locomotor ataxia, which attacks practically only syphilitics; and general paresis, of which seventy-five per cent of the cases occur in those who have had syphilis.