VENEREAL DISEASES: GONORRHEA - TRANSMITION AND TREATMENT
Gonorrhea is rarely transmitted in any other way than those just indicated. The gonococcus is not a hardy germ. It ia very difficult to grow it outside the body. If it becomes dry, it dies immediately, so that it can be transmitted only in a moist medium. When it is transmitted in a moist state, it must find a suitable place to grow in the body. The eyes are one such place. If moist secretions on a towel were wiped into the eyes, a serious infection would set in. Again, if a moist deposit of bacteria from a toilet seat were lodged on the genitals, an infection might begin. While the probabilities of thus acquiring the disease are very small, yet a few simple precautions in regard to the use of individual towels to avoid contact with eye infections, and in regard to clean toilet seats, will not be amiss.
The treatment of gonorrhea should be begun immediately following infection so as to prevent its spread. It should at all times be prescribed and supervised by a competent physician, preferably a specialist in genito-urinary diseases. In no case should it be left to the dubious judgment of a druggist who "prescribes" remedies (invariably the wrong ones), or an advertising quack whose only aim is to secure his patient's money. There are clinics in all cities of the United States where those unable to afford private treatment may receive attention at a very slight cost. A cessation of discharge does not mean a cure, and no one is justified in believing himself cured until several tests have shown that he no longer harbors the gonococcus, or other bacteria, in any part of the genital tract.
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