
If you have gonorrhea in other areas of your body, you may experience different symptoms. Heavier periods or bleeding between periods.Pain or burning sensation while urinating.Increased or yellowish discharge from the vagina.Some tell-tale signs you may have gonorrhea include: Typically, people with vaginas do not experience symptoms of gonorrhea as strongly, which means the disease can be mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection.
Swelling or redness at the opening of the penis. A white, yellow, beige, or slightly green, pus-like discharge (or drip) from the penis. People with penises will experience different symptoms than to those with vaginas. If you are asymptomatic, you can still spread the infection, infecting other partners without knowing. However, not everyone will experience noticeable symptoms. Symptoms of gonorrhea usually appear within 2-14 days after exposure. In this theory, “the clap” could have originated from the symptoms caused by gonorrhea, like painful urination, and throbbing pain in the genitals. There are also some etymologists who believe the term originated from an old English word, “clappan”, which means “beating or throbbing.” If you had the disease, you had “clapier bubo.” This was eventually shortened to “clap.”Īnother theory suggests that the infection got its name in the days before antibiotics, when men would treat gonorrhea by slapping their penis against a board or clapping it between two hands to force out infected discharge. In the 1500s, this word referred to a rabbit’s nest due to the active sex lives of rabbits, the name was picked up as a slang term for brothels, a place where people engaged in regular sex and could spread the disease easily. We don’t know for certain where the name came from, but several interesting theories about this nickname exist.Ī popular theory is that the term was coined from the French word, clapier, meaning brothel. Gonorrhea is particularly common in people 15-24 years old. It is a highly contagious bacterial infection caused by the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium, also known as gonococcus.Īnyone can get gonorrhea, though it is more prevalent in people with penises, and they tend to exhibit symptoms more frequently. If you have unprotected sexual intercourse, including anal sex and oral sex, you may contract gonorrhea, an STD that affects the genitals, rectum, eyes, and throat.
I’ll also tell you about its symptoms, how it’s diagnosed and treated, and who may be at risk for contracting gonorrhea. In this article, I’ll tell you more about gonorrhea, including some theories about why it’s called “the clap.” Sometimes, gonorrhea is called by a slang name, “the clap.” It can be transmitted via oral, vaginal, or anal sex, or from a mother to child during childbirth. Gonorrhea, an extremely contagious sexually transmitted disease (STD), is one of the most common STDs in the United States, impacting more than 600,000 people per year.