48 
BACTERIOLOGY. 
classed as a venereal disease because it is commonly 
confined to the genital organs. It is an exceedingly 
common disease, and is spread almost always by 
sexual contact. In the male the infection starts, after 
an incubation period of five to seven days, with a dis¬ 
charge of pus from the urethra. The acute stage lasts 
usually from 3 to 6 weeks, and then recedes either en¬ 
tirely or leaves a catarrhal inflammation which may 
last and be infectious for an indefinite period. In ap¬ 
proximately half of the cases, however, the infection 
extends back to involve the bladder, prostate gland, or 
seminal vesicles. When this happens the gonococci be¬ 
come buried in the tissues and frequently remain dor¬ 
mant for years, only to light up again when conditions 
favor it. Infection of these organs is most difficult to 
eradicate, and a person so infected may be able to 
transmit the disease to others over long periods of time. 
It is a frequent cause of sterility in the male. In the 
female the infection, during menstrual life, starts in 
the cervix of the uterus, less often in the urethra. It 
frequently involves Skene’s ducts about the urethral 
orifice and Bartholin’s glands beneath the floor of the 
vagina. The disease has the tendency to ascend dur¬ 
ing the menstrual period to involve the mucous lining 
of the uterus, thence to the Fallopian tubes and ovaries. 
When this occurs it nearly always requires surgical in¬ 
tervention. The disease is harder to combat in the 
female than in the male, partly because the acute symp¬ 
toms are not so marked, and so the nature of the in¬ 
fection may escape detection, and partly because the 
