So-called super-gonorrhoea has hit the headlines once again with a report of two patients infected with a version of the sexually transmitted disease that is resistant to the first-choice antibiotics, which is a combination of azithromycin and ceftriaxone. The cases are not related to the world's ‘worst case’, which was detected in the UK in 2018 after the patient returned from a trip to South East Asia.
The bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae has rapidly developed resistance to new antibiotics, and there have been growing levels of the occurrence of super-gonorrhoea around the world, with cases reported in Japan, Canada and Australia. An untreated infection can lead to infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease, and can be passed on to a child during pregnancy.
