Hello,
we are Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
We hang around in pairs, known as diplococci. We are pretty fussy and hard to grow in the lab. So scientists have to use special agar plates known as chocolate agar. As tasty as that might sound, these plates don't actually contain any chocolate, just heated blood that takes on a browny color.
We cause a nasty infection known as gonorrhoea. Lots of people won't have any symptoms, at least not to start with. In the later stages, women get cramps, fever, pelvic inflammatory disease and nausea.
We can be treated with antibiotics, although our resistance to lots of the common drugs is now widespread. Gonorrhea is also commonly known by the slang term "the clap". This might have originated from the French word "clapier", meaning "brothel".
