This disease has no name in ancient Sanskrit. Because of its many similarities with urethritis (meha), this disease has been called prameha in Bengali. But the English word, “gonorrhoea”, is more commonly used.

Symptoms

Burning sensation while urinating; the head of the penis swelling and becoming blood-red; passing of urine drop by drop or with a white or yellowish coloration; seminal discharge of a white colour at first and yellowish in the later stage of the disease; sores around the head of the penis or inside the urinary passage; the penis swelling and becoming hard, etc.; are the indications of gonorrhoea.

Causes

According to medical practitioners, this disease is spread by a bacteria called “gonococcus.” This disease originates with those males or females who are habitually unrestrained and unclean. And those who come in physical contact with such males and females also contract the disease. This disease is contracted by males from prostitutes, and innocent women may in turn be affected through physical contact with those males.

Generally speaking, before this disease is clearly expressed, patients suffer from tickling or itching sensations inside the urinary tract or inside the vagina. And if the patient scratches or in some way manipulates or rubs the genitals, he or she will feel a hot sensation and at the same time some temporary relief.

Treatment

The same as for syphilis.

Diet

All nutritious foods that do not cause constipation can be eaten. Drinking of water and lemon juice in sufficient quantity is recommended, and the fasting rules must be observed carefully. Overeating, using intoxicating items, and eating non-vegetarian food should be carefully avoided. The buds, stems, and leaves of ucche, paltá, neem [Azadirachta indica A. juss.] and sajne (also flowers) are very good for this disease.

Dos and don’ts

Though not fatal, gonorrhoea is more harmful than its simple fatality record, because it gradually poisons the life of the entire society. It is not easy to get complete cure from gonorrhoea. This disease sometimes remains latent for a long time, and a little intemperance will make it surface again. Therefore gonorrhoea patients should observe naeśt́hika Brahmacarya [strict abstinence from sexual intercourse] for a long period of time, to avoid having blind or deformed offspring. Even after achieving a complete cure from the disease, strict continence must be maintained for at least three years.

If pus from this illness somehow gets into the eyes, it may destroy the eyesight. So the hands should be washed with soap if they have been contaminated with the pus. The diseased area should be exposed to the rays of the sun after taking a regular bath. If the pain becomes unbearable, soak the genital organ in alum-water as hot as can be endured. For relief from pain, the penis can also be covered with a pack of yellow clay, leaving the urinary passage open. The clay pack can be intermittently replaced by a fresh one, throwing away the old pack as soon as it has dried up.

Gonorrhoea generates an unbearable burning pain in the genital organ – often with stoppage of urine or passing of urine mixed with blood. So to keep the urination clear and easy, any of the following steps should be taken:

1. Take 1/4 seer of fresh, unboiled milk along with 3/8 seer water as a drink very early in the morning every day.

2. Drink 1 tola of heleiṋca juice.

3. Take 1 tola of raw turmeric with a drink of michrii in water.

4. Take 1 tola of ámŕá-skin juice, mix it with sugar and drink it.

5. Drink with water 1/8 tola dry yajiṋa d́umura seeds crushed into powder.

6. Take with sugar 1 tola of aŕahara-leaf [aŕahara is a kind of pulse] extract.

7. Soak báblá gum in water overnight and drink it early in the morning with sugar-water; or take a powdered cubeb [Piper cubeba Linn. f.] along with 1/16 tola of michrii.

8. Drink 10 drops of sandal oil in water.

9. Mix half a tola of white sandal powder with michrii-water.

10. Take a drink of 1/16 tola of psyllium [flea seed] in michrii-water.

11. Grind the tender aerial root of a banyan tree into unboiled milk and drink it.

Some remedies

1. Drinking 2 tolas of shatamúlii juice with 1/8 seer milk or

2. Grinding sugar and 2 flowers of palásha together and drinking them in cold water; or

3. Taking 1/16 tola of raw turmeric mixed with ámlakii [emblic myrobalan – Emblica officinalis Gaertn.] powder along with cold water; will cure urethritis.

4. Good results can be obtained by putting 1/16 tola of alum powder into the interior of a green (unripe) coconut, burying the coconut from the morning of one day till early morning of the next, then drinking the coconut water.

5. Take 5 tolas of water in which 8 to 10 leaves of red javá [china rose – Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.] have been mashed until the water has become reddish, then strain out the leaves and take it with sugar as a drink, in order to relieve the disease.

6. All urethritis-type diseases can be cured by taking gulaiṋca extract with honey.

7. If the patient suffers from severe abdominal pain, an application of white sandal paste on the navel region will bring relief.

8. If the secretions or pus of gonorrhoea have gotten by chance into the eyes and have made them red or runny, application of a collyrium of apámárga will prevent blindness. Prepare a paste by burning a dry twig of apámárga in a candle flame, and mixing the ash with cow’s ghee. This paste should be applied to the eyes with a pigeon feather.