Super gonorrhoea on the rise, health officials warn

pharmafile | January 9, 2019 | News story | Research and Development STI, gonorrehoea, health, public health, std 

Health officials from Public Health England (PHE) have warned that cases of antibiotic resistant strains of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea are on the rise.

Cases of the antibiotic resistant bug, which has been termed ‘super-gonorrhoea’, are on the rise officials claim as an increasing number of cases in which strains of gonorrhoea that were resistant to three separate antimicrobial drugs had been found.

The report, from PHE, notes that the strain had been discovered in the UK in a man who had had sexual contact with a woman in South East Asia one month prior to onset.  Efforts to contact the partner in East Asia are ongoing. The bug was eventually treated with the antibiotic spectinomycin after other treatments had failed.

The report comes as reported cases of syphilis have reached their highest levels since 1949, increasing by almost 150% over the past ten years. It was also revealed last month that cases of chlamydia and super-gonorrhoea reached record highs.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Dr Helen Fifer, a PHE consultant microbiologist said: “Last year new cases of gonorrhoea increased by 22 per cent in England with many cases becoming more resistant to antibiotics. We expect to see further cases of antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea in the future, which will be challenging for healthcare professionals to manage.”

Louis Goss

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