Both the physician and the patient are far too ready to assume, for their self glorification, that the disease is cured when the external discharge is no longer visible; but this is far from being the case, and the mistake is liable to result in untold harm, even after a long interval, to the patient himself and to any woman with whom he may cohabit.
It is important to let the patient early understand that his ailment is in no degree trifling, but that it is a menace to his whole future enjoyment of health, to his virility, to his life itself, and to his family circle should he ever marry. The modern specialist on venereal disease will treat a case of gonorrhoea quite differently from many practitioners who have failed to properly inform themselves. The details of treatment lying solely in the physician's province it is needless to specify here; but too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of warning the patient that the discharge from his penis is a virulent poison, and that, in order to protect his eyes from contamination, he must carefully wash his hands after every manipulation of the dressings or handling of the penis.
The man is "unclean", and his towels and bed Unen must be used by him alone and washed separately. All the dressings and cloths which are contaminated by the discharge must be burned.
After a patient has acquired gonorrhoea it is comparatively easy to be able to inform him of the fact, but a matter of considerable nicety to say when he is free from it; and yet this latter decision is one of extreme moment, both to himself and to those with whom he may cohabit.
It is a very nice matter indeed to manage a case of gonorrhoea just as it should be, for improper treatment, Whether of too short or too long duration, or too active at
too mild, will probably convert a simple case into a chronic one which may last indefinitely and be complicated with stricture, sterility and sexual irritative symptoms.
Venereal patients are noted for their lying propensities, often referring the origin of their diseases to the contamination from water closets; indulging secretly in intercourse when the physician has prohibited it; lying about their habits and symptoms, either from shame or from a desire to lessen the amount of their expenditures; and in every way proving so unsatisfactory in their conduct that, in spite of all the physician can do, they frequently go from bad to worse, and in every particular carry out the role of venomous animals who poison innumerable women with disease, insidiously, under the guise of love, not giving warning of danger as the serpents do.
The man who lies to his physician is a fool indeed, and the more so if he really expects to hoodwink men whose life work it is to study human nature and its frailties.
Chronic Gonorrhoea. Chronic gonorrhoea is often spoken of as synonymous with "gleet"; but the former term is more correct the latter being a mere symptom.
There are many influences which cause an acute case of clap to become chronic; this mishap, unfortunately, very frequently occurring, in which event the patient is not only liable to a protracted siege of suffering, annoyance and expense, but also for a period of months or years menaces any woman with whom he may cohabit, as well as all who follow him in his impure intercourse.
Of course every case of chronic gonorrhoea develops from a pre existing acute attack; and when the declining stage, which is characterized by a clear mucous discharge, remains refractory to treatment, the inflammation becomes localized or limited to one patch of the urethra, usually in that part which is the most vascular, and where there are the greatest number of glands, such as the bulbous, membranous and prostatic portions of the urethra.