A New STD to worry about
A New STD to worry about
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Gonorrhoea is a common sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacterium, commonly referred to as “the clap” and easily treated, but, now there is a new STD to worry about.
It seems that a particular strain of this infection, believed to have originated from Japan, is becoming rapidly resistant to antibiotics, and this poses a potentially serious threat to people worldwide.
Gonorrhoea has always been satisfactorily treated with penicillin or an alternative antibiotic, but mutations in bacteria have produced a “superbug” strain which, like MSRA is especially hard to get rid of.
A New STD to worry about
An article in this news report explains that according to Dr. Manjula Lusti-Narasimhan, a scientist in the agency’s department of sexually transmitted diseases.
“This organism has basically been developing resistance against every medication we’ve thrown at it,”
“In a couple of years it will have become resistant to every treatment option we have available now,”
The doctor made these comments to the Associated Press in an interview ahead of the World Health Organisation’s public announcement on its ‘global action plan’ to combat the disease.
“The WHO said those fears are now reality with many more countries, including Australia, France, Norway, Sweden and Britain, reporting cases of the sexually transmitted disease resistant to cephalosporin antibiotics.”
“Gonorrhoea is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection which, if left untreated, can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirths, severe eye infections in babies, and infertility in both men and women.”
“Now, it is again the second most common sexually transmitted infection after chlamydia. The global health body estimates that of the 498 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections worldwide, gonorrhoea is responsible for some 106 million infections annually. It also increases the chances of infection with other diseases, such as HIV.”
“The emergence of drug-resistant or superbug strains of gonorrhoea is caused by unregulated access to and overuse of antibiotics, which helps fuel natural genetic mutations within the bacteria.”
“They used to say that if you have urethral gonorrhoea you go to the toilet to pass urine, it would be like passing razor blades. It was that painful,” he explained. “Now people with gonorrhoea sometimes…only notice the discharge if they look when they pass urine, it’s not that painful anymore.”
“So the organism has readjusted itself to provide fewer symptoms so that it can survive longer. It’s an amazing interaction between man and pathogen.”
This is a worrying situation which could easily get worse and even produce a worldwide panic like Aids did a couple of decades ago. It is perhaps time to try and educate people once again about the dangers of promiscuity and the inherent risk associated with unprotected sex. If there is a new STD to worry about now it is quite likely that other bacteria also will mutate and become difficult to eradicate because of the widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
