A chief medical officer in UK has warned that gonorrhea is at risk of becoming un-treatable. This is coming in the wake of a new drug-resistant strain of the infection. The strain, which is resistant to the antibiotic azithromycin, was first reported in March. All cases reported involved heterosexual patients, and some people have reported partners from other parts of England, Mail Online reports.
At least 16 cases were detected in northern England this year, including 12 in Leeds where the mutated strand was first recorded. In her letter, the chief medical officer said: 'Gonorrhea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease due to the continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance.'
She added: 'Gonorrhea has rapidly acquired resistance to new antibiotics, leaving few alternatives to the current recommendations.
'It is therefore extremely important that suboptimal treatment does not occur.'
If untreated, gonorrhea can lead to serious long-term health problems, including infertility and potentially life-threatening pelvic inflammatory disease in women. In pregnant women it can also cause permanent blindness in a newborn.
There were almost 35,000 cases of gonorrhea reported in England last year and it is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK after chlamydia, with the majority of cases affecting people under the age of 25. Infected patients may experience pain while urinating, but around 10 per cent of men and almost half of women do not suffer any symptoms.
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