Gonorrhoeae must Compete with the Naturally Inhabitant of Microbial Community Right at the Outer Mucosal Surface to Authorize Infection

Aim: to describe the competition between Neisseria gonorrhoeae with the naturally inhabitant of microbial community right at the outer mucosal surface to authorize infection.

Discussion: Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium N. gonorrhea. Official report mention that by the year 2020, there were an estimated 82.4 million new infections among adults globally and poses a risk of onward transmission to sex partners. It surely could affect both men and women; for male, the symptoms are more obvious, but for women it occurs more often without prominent clinical symptoms and usually lead to long-term health problems including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. The female reproductive tract with its abundant variety of epithelial cells act as its primary niche where initially it was inhabited by normal microbiota, characterized by a high abundance of Lactobacilli, and uniquely linked to the host’s mucosal immunity and plays a critical role in the regulation of genital inflammation. Unfortunately, the dynamics regarding number and composition of vaginal microbiota has been shown to fluctuate over several internal and external factors, especially due to STI like gonorrhea. Its proposed evolution from an ancestral commensal bacterium, N. gonorrhoeae has retained features that are commonly found among commensal inhabitants, but it has also developed unique features that are crucial to its pathogenesis. The scope of its pathogenesis field elucidate competition, colonization and growth properties as main virulence determinants.

Conclusion: Competition between N. gonorrhoeae and the already exist natural microbiota of the vagina occur initially at the mucosal surface. This gonococcus has several intrinsic factors that can facilitate its competitiveness including adherence, even though not all available adhesion mechanisms are actually used by this organism during the course of infection/colonization of any specific site.