Gonorrhoea and syphilis
The two bacterial diseases. Both can be cured with the right medical treatment, and both do serious harm if that treatment is not given.
1. Gonorrhoea
The disease is spread by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Symptoms
- discharges coming out around the genitals;
- severe burning;
- retention of urine.
Medicinal treatment is available. If proper treatment is not given, conditions such as blindness and lameness arise.
2. Syphilis
The disease is spread by the bacterium Treponema pallidum.
How it progresses
- About three months after the pathogen enters the body, painless blisters appear on the genitals. These heal by themselves.
- About six months later, fever and a sore throat appear. These too subside by themselves.
If the disease is identified at an early stage and proper medicinal treatment is given, it can be cured.
The pathogen can live inactively in the blood for several years. During that time, the disease can spread through the blood to the other organs of the body.
Symptoms going away is not recovery
Syphilis is dangerous precisely because it appears to heal. The blisters clear, the fever passes, and the person seems well while the bacterium is still in the blood, still spreading through the body, and still transmissible. Only treatment ends it.