Effect of Drying on Neisseria Gonorrhoeae in Relation to non-Venereal Infection in Children

Abstract

Summary: Previous work has suggested the possibility of transmission of gonorrhoea by towels, bed-clothes and underclothes. The sensitivity of the gonococcus to the lethal effects of drying has usually been taken to imply that such articles could only remain infective for a very short time; in the case of vulvo vaginitis of children, sexual or close personal contact with an infected adult has been considered the most likely source of infection. In vitro experiments reported here show that the high relative humidity of the tropics during the rainy season may allow clothes contaminated with gonococci to remain infective for at least three to four hours. It could thus transfer infection without the need for immediate or close personal contact. Adult patients with gonorrhoea should be warned that they may be a potential danger to children in the household who may share the same bed clothes, or other articles such as underclothes.