Dr. Robert Kirkcaldy, medical epidermiologist and antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea expert at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s division of STD prevention has revealed that gonorrhoea could soon become an untreatable disease.
"We could be facing the real possibility of untreatable gonorrhoea", he said. In recent years, effective treatment options for the newest strain of drug-resistant gonorrhoea have dwindled down to one – the injectable antibiotic cefriazoxone, recommended in conjunction with an oral antibiotic. That’s because the bacteria that cause gonorrhoea mutate quickly and develop resistance to antibiotics quite rapidly.
The bacterial disease - which is a hit with young people - can be transmitted unknowingly through vaginal, oral or anal sex and it affects millions each year.
According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, women have a 60-80 percent risk of contracting the disease after just one one-night stand with someone who has it. While symptoms depend on which part of the body is infected, the infection is asymptomatic in 50 percent of female carriers, so it can easily be passed along unknowingly.
Left untreated, the STI can trigger chronic pelvic pain, pregnancy complications, and even infertility in women and an increased risk of contracting HIV. Men experience uncomfortable urination and discharge - don't we know it.
This is NOT good, considering that gonorrohoea is a 'common' disease in these parts. If you ask someone, "What do you have?" he'll answer, "It's gono; I'll just pop into the chemist and get medication." And that'll be that. It's a disease that we can 'handle'. We've got this one. . . or have we?
If it's going to become resistant to medication, then the sexual health implications are enormous. What do we do now; Do we turn to syphilis, herpes. . . AIDS? Can anyone ever take the place of gonorrhoea?
Our options are not looking good. Even the so-called 'small' diseases are throwing curve balls at us; We're being killed by very single bacteria that comes along.
Gonorrhoea is all grown up now, and is throwing heavy punches at us. . . If we know what's good for us, we'd better improve our sexual habits and fight back. . . or else.
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