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Also called the clap or drip, gonorrhea is a contagious disease transmitted most often through sexual contact with an infected person. Gonorrhea may also be spread by contact with infected bodily fluids, so that a mother could pass on the infection to her newborn during childbirth or to her baby through household contact. Both men and women can get gonorrhea. The infection is easily spread and occurs most often in people who have many sex partners. What Causes Gonorrhea? Gonorrhea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in mucus membranes of the body. Gonorrhea bacteria can grow in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening to the womb), uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes (egg canals) in women, and in the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body) in women and men. The bacteria can also grow in the mouth, throat, and anus. How Common Is Gonorrhea? Gonorrhea is a very common infectious disease. In the U.S. each year, about 650,000 people are infected with gonorrhea, and about 75% of all reported gonorrhea is found in younger persons aged 15 to 29. The highest rates of infection are usually found in 15- to 19-year-old women and 20- to 24-year-old men.
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