Overview
Clinical Focus
A patient with fever, a few pustules on the hands or feet, tendon sheath pain, or an acutely swollen joint may have disseminated gonococcal infection even without dysuria, disch...
A patient with fever, a few pustules on the hands or feet, tendon-sheath pain, or an acutely swollen joint may have disseminated gonococcal infection even without dysuria, discharge, or pelvic symptoms. The genital or anorectal infection may be silent while Neisseria gonorrhoeae enters the bloodstream and seeds skin, tendon sheaths, and joints. The immediate clinical task is to recognize invasive disease, obtain cultures and NAAT from every relevant site when this will not delay resuscitation, and look actively for meningitis, endocarditis, and destructive septic arthritis.