Another three cases of antibiotic resistant ‘super-gonorrhoea’ have been identified in England.
The government announced today that a woman in her 20s from London and a heterosexual couple in their 20s from the Midlands had recently been diagnosed.
They said they all had contracted a strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae which was restistant to ceftriaxone – the main drug used to treat the sexually transmitted disease in the UK.
There was no known connection between the couple in the Midlands and the woman in London.
It comes after a man in his early 20s caught the infection in London in November last year, bringing the recent total now to four.
It is a concerning development as so far, bacteria resistant to the treatment has not been widespread in the UK, although it is more common in the Asia-Pacific region.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said they were waiting to find out if a different treatment had been successful for the three people identified.
Dr Katy Sinka, STI Section Head, said: ‘After a couple of years without any cases of this hard-to-treat form of gonorrhoea, we have now seen four cases in the last two months.
‘It’s too soon to say whether this will be the start of a longer-term trend, but we do know that STIs are on the rise in general.
‘Getting an STI isn’t as simple as taking some medicine and moving on with your life – if not properly treated, they can have long term impacts on your and your partner’s health.
‘Adding antibiotic resistance into the mix makes the impact on your life even greater.
‘There are simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of gonorrhoea and other STIs.
‘Use condoms consistently and correctly with all new or casual partners, test regularly for STIs and if you have any symptoms such as unusual discharge, don’t have sex until you are tested.’
Gonorrhoea is caused by bacteria that can be found in vaginal fluid or discharge from the penis, and used to be known as ‘the clap’.
The second most common bacterial STI in the UK after chlamydia, it can infect the entrance to the cervix, the urethra, the rectum and, less commonly, the throat or eyes.
The government says that typical symptoms of gonorrhoea include a thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain when urinating, pain and discomfort in the rectum and, in women and other people with a uterus or ovaries, lower abdominal pain and bleeding between periods.
However, often people infected will have no symptoms, especially for infections in the throat, vagina or rectum.
Treating gonorrhoea as soon as possible is very important as it can lead to serious long-term health problems; in women and other people with a uterus or ovaries, gonorrhoea can spread to the reproductive organs and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease can lead to long-term pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy and infertility.
The infection can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby and the NHS say that if someone is pregnant and may have gonorrhoea, it’s important they get tested and treated before the baby is born.
Without treatment, gonorrhoea can cause permanent blindness in a newborn baby.
In men and other people with testes, it can cause a painful infection in the testicles and prostate gland, which may lead to reduced fertility in some cases.
STI testing is free on the NHS. You can search for nearby sexual health clinics here.
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