Gonnorhea could become “untreatable” with global cases of the sexually transmitted disease reaching an all-time high.
England too peaked in 2023, the highest since records began in 1918, with 85,000 cases reported. The higher rates are coupled with medics detecting more cases of a treatment-resistant strain.
Antibiotic ceftriaxone is the first stage of treatment in the UK, but the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has flagged in new data that there is an increasing number of cases that are drug-resistant.
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From 2015 to 2021, there were only nine cases of gonorrhoea reported as resistant to ceftriaxone, but between June 2022 and May 2024, there were 15 such cases deemed “extensively drug-resistant”. This means they are able to resist first and second-line treatments as well as other types of antibiotics.
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According to the World Health Organisation: “The extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea with high-level resistance to the current recommended treatment for gonorrhoea (ceftriaxone) but also including resistance to penicillin, sulphonamides, tetracycline, fluoroquinolones and macrolides (including azithromycin) are called gonorrhoea superbugs or super gonorrhoea.”
According to the UKHSA’s data, all of the cases were heterosexual and most were among people in their 20s who acquired it while abroad.
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Dr Helen Fifer, consultant microbiologist at UKHSA, said: “Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, risking the possibility of it becoming untreatable in the future.
“Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to serious health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
“Condoms are the best defence, but if you didn’t use one with a recent new or casual partner, get tested to detect the infection and prevent onwards transmission.”
Professor Matt Phillips, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), added: “The rise of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea infections in England is a worrying trend that must be addressed with immediate action.
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“Antibiotic resistance of STIs poses an increasingly major public health threat, which can create physical and psychological harms and place additional demands on other parts of the NHS.
“BASHH, alongside sector partners, has repeatedly called for a sexual health strategy for England; this must be a priority if our expert sexual health workforce are to effectively meet these growing and changing needs in sexual health.”
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