Explore the recorded discovery and history of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, with source links and stated limits.
PHAC describes N. gonorrhoeae as a Gram-negative bacterium 0.6 to 1.0 micrometres in diameter which appears kidney bean shaped under the microscope, typically in a diplococcal arrangement with adjacent flattened sides, non-motile, non-spore-forming and possessing fimbriae with an affinity for human cells. It is an obligate human pathogen with no other known natural host. WHO estimated 82 million new gonorrhoea infections worldwide in 2020 among people aged 15 to 49. CDC states that gonorrhea often has no symptoms but can cause serious health problems even without symptoms, and PHAC reports that up to 70% of infected females remain asymptomatic.
LPSN records the basonym “Merismopedia gonorrhoeae” Zopf 1885. The species epithet comes from the Latin for gonorrhoea, so the name records the disease it was found in rather than any property of the cell.
LPSN records Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Zopf 1885) Trevisan 1885, effectively published in Trevisan’s Carratteri di alcuni nuovi generi di Batteriacee, and retained on the 1980 Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. Type strain ATCC 19424 / NCTC 8375. The genus honours Albert Neisser.
These references do not identify a first person ever infected. Gonorrhoea was described clinically long before the organism was seen, so a naming record from 1885 cannot date the first human infection or a country of origin.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.