Library · Microorganism
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Make it clearer
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the bacterium known as the gonococcus, and it depends on us completely: it is an obligate human pathogen, meaning it can only survive, spread and reproduce inside the human body. Outside of it, it cannot complete its cycle.
What lets it settle in is on its surface. It is covered with pili, thin hair-like appendages. They initiate attachment to the epithelium, the layer of cells that lines the mucous membranes, and the bacterium can also extend them and reel them back in: it hooks on from a distance and pulls itself toward the cell. Pili work like a grappling hook on a rope: thrown out, hooked in, then reeled back to pull the bacterium closer.
It does not attach just anywhere. It looks for columnar epithelium, the kind made of tall cells: the urethra, the endocervix, the pharynx or the anus in adults. In newborns the usual sites are the conjunctiva of the eye or the pharynx.
In brief
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an obligate human pathogen: it depends on the human body alone to survive, spread and reproduce.
Its surface is covered with pili, hair-like appendages that initiate attachment to the epithelium and that the bacterium extends and retracts to pull itself closer.
Pili work like a grappling hook on a rope: thrown out, hooked in, then reeled back to pull the bacterium closer.
It usually infects the columnar epithelium of the urethra, endocervix, pharynx or anus in adults, and the conjunctiva or pharynx in newborns.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingGonorrhea, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated