Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Published on August 31, 2025   22 min
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0:00
Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Sarah Fouch, and welcome to this short recording, where we will be considering Neisseria gonorrhoeae. As we work through this recording, we will think about the clinical conditions associated with this organism, and also the virulence factors that it can produce to make it a successful pathogen.
0:25
When we think about Neisseria gonorrhoeae, these are aerobic organisms. They are gram-negative, and they normally appear in cocci in pairs. These are what we call diplococci. They sit together. Now they need higher concentrations of CO_2 to survive, and they are what we call capnophilic. They are non-motile, and they can't form spores. They are not secreted into the environment and they can't survive for long periods of time.
1:03
Now, when we think about Neisseria gonorrhoeae, we've known about this organism for a long period of time. Gonor means seed, and rhoia means flow. If we think about the way gonorrhoeae is transmitted via sexual contact, actually, that name is perfect in a way. Now, back in 1879, clinicians started to see purulent discharges that had these organisms within them. The causal relationship between these organisms, and also the way they are transmitted, was proven in 1885.

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