Oral sex is to blame for dangerous ‘SUPER gonorrhoea’ that’s spreading fast – and could be incurable
Gonorrhoea bacteria is "smart" and evolve to resist each new strain of antibiotics, experts have warned
ORAL sex is to blame for dangerous forms of untreatable gonorrhoea - and a lack of condom use is helping it spread, experts have warned.
Antibiotic resistant strains of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) are becoming much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat, the World Health Organisation warns.
Dr Teodora Wi, medical officer in human reproduction at WHO, said: "The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are particularly smart.
"Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them."
Figures from 77 countries shows the infection is becoming resistant to older and cheaper antibiotics.
And some countries, especially where incomes are high and STI tests are common, are finding cases that cannot be treated using all known antibiotics.
But worryingly, the vast majority of cases are in poorer countries where resistance is harder to detect.
Dr Wi added: "These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhoea is actually more common."
About 78 million people are infected with gonorrhoea each year, according to WHO.
It is the second most common form of STI in England.
It affects the genitals, rectum and throat, producing a thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis.
Bacteria can be spread from the genitals through unprotected sex and from the throat through oral sex.
Dr Wi told the BBC: "When you use antibiotics to treat infections like a normal sore throat, this mixes with the Neisseria species [gonorrhoea bacteria] in your throat and this results in resistance."
Putting gonorrhoea bacteria into that environment through oral sex could lead to the spread of a super-gonorrhoea.
One in ten men and almost half of infected women will not experience any symptoms.
It can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility and an increased risk of HIV.
Between 2009 and 2014 97 per cent of countries under WHO's gonorrhoea surveillance programme found drug-resistant strains of the infection.
But there are just three new candidate drugs that could be used to curb the spread of the STI.
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Dr Marc Sprenger, director of antimicrobial resistance at WHO, said: "To control gonorrhoea, we need new tools and systems for better prevention, treatment, earlier diagnosis, and more complete tracking and reporting of new infections, antibiotic use, resistance and treatment failures.
"Specifically, we need new antibiotics, as well as rapid, accurate, point-of-care diagnostic tests – ideally, ones that can predict which antibiotics will work on that particular infection – and longer term, a vaccine to prevent gonorrhoea."
HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE GONORRHOEA
Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection that in many cases shows very few signs.
Symptoms usually develop within two weeks of a person becoming infected, but around one in 10 men and half of women who are infected will not experience any obvious signs of the infection.
As a result, it is common for gonorrhoea to go untreated for some time.
In women, the symptoms include:
- an unusual vaginal discharge, which may be thin or watery and green or yellow in colour
- pain or a burning sensation when passing urine
- pain or tenderness in the lower abdomen
- bleeding between periods, heavier periods and bleeding after sex
In men, the signs include:
- an unusual discharge from the tip of the penis, which may be white, yellow or green
- pain or a burning sensation when peeing
- inflammation of the foreskin
- pain or tenderness in the testicles