What disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae?

What disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae? Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes gonorrhea.

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection caused by this Gram-negative bacterium, also called the gonococcus. It can infect the genitals, rectum, throat, and eyes, and it may be passed from a pregnant person to a newborn during childbirth.

Many infections produce no symptoms. When symptoms occur, they can include burning urination and genital discharge, but untreated infection may cause pelvic inflammatory disease, epididymitis, infertility, or disseminated infection affecting the skin and joints. Newborn eye infection, known as ophthalmia neonatorum, is another serious complication.

Meningitis is a tempting distractor because rare disseminated gonococcal infections can spread to the meninges, but meningitis is not the disease name ordinarily requested here. Chlamydia and syphilis are separate sexually transmitted infections caused by different organisms. Albert Neisser identified the bacterium in 1878, helping establish the connection between the microbe and the disease.