DISEASE NAME:
Gonorrhoea
CATEGORY:
STIs
Gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is a curable sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The numbers affected are likely to be underestimated as up to 86% of women and 55% of men have no symptoms. Clinical signs of infection include mucosal inflammation of the urogenital tract, throat and rectum in males and females, and eye infections in babies born to infected mothers. Serious complications can occasionally occur if infections are not treated.
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6,824 cases notified in 2023
132.5 The national notification rate per 100,000 population
Latest trends in Gonorrhoea: Provisional data for 2023
Case Definitions
Clinical criteria
Any person with at least one of the following eleven:
- Urethritis
- Acute salpingitis
- Pelvic inflammatory disease
- Cervicitis
- Epididymitis
- Proctitis
- Pharyngitis
- Arthritis
- Purulent conjunctivitis
- Perihepatitis
- Bartholinitis
OR
Any newborn child with conjunctivitis
Laboratory criteria
At least one of the following three:
- Isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from a clinical specimen
- Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae nucleic acid in a clinical specimen
- Microscopic detection of intracellular gram negative diploccocci in an urethral male specimen
Epidemiological criteria
An epidemiological link by human to human transmission (sexual contact or vertical transmission)
Case classification
A. Possible case
N/A
B. Probable case
Any person meeting the clinical criteria and with an epidemiological link
C. Confirmed case
Any person meeting the laboratory criteria
Last Updated: 22nd November 2022
Ireland’s specialist service for the surveillance of communicable diseases.