Caught A “Sex Superbug” On Your Way Down Under? Resistant Gonorrhea Strain Breaks Out in the Australian Outback

• comments
• 
• 

Stuffed koalas and wallabies may not be the only souvenirs you bring back with you from your visit down under, as news from Australia's Health Department claims the resurgence of highly resistant "sex superbug" running rampant in the general populous.

As an atypical bacterial strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, health officials fear that this new resilient form gonorrhea is not treatable by any current methods, and are already seeing widespread dissemination of the infection. The highly contagious sexually transmitted infection (STI) is passed from infected to host typically by unprotected oral or penetrative sex, however the bacterium can infect other mucosal membranes such as the throat and eyes, as well as sex organs.

The most resistant strain of gonorrhea ever detected in Australia and New Zealand, Australia's Health Department reports that it was discovered after a tourist from central Europe contracted the STI in Sydney on holiday. Dubbing the new multidrug-resistant strain "A8806", health officials are finding that the current strain has frightening similarities in the structure of its outer shell, which allows it to interact with human cells, with that of the H041 strain discovered in Japan in 2009.

Other reports of resilient strains of STIs are not uncommon, such as those in May of 2011 reported in Hawaii, California and Norway, however, their untreatable nature is cause for concern.

Typically treated with powerful antibiotics like ceftriaxone, "the clap" as it is commonly known is a very manageable and treatable infection that the host can get 100% rid of after typically only one round of antibiotics. However, as these strains develop resistance, left untreated gonorrhea can lead to infertility, heart infections, meningitis and worse.

"Gonnorrhoea infection can result in severe complications" President of the Australian Health Department, Dr. Edward Coughlan says. "This is a major public health concern."

With nearly 106.1 million new cases of gonorrhea estimated each year by the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been well-documented that the gonorrhoea bacterium can develop antibiotic resistance through evolution in a short number of generations. In fact, the New Zealand Sexual Health Society reports that nearly all of the antibiotics used in the past 70 years no longer provide effective treatment as many of the strains have acquired resistance by evolutionary means.

The Australian Health Department is urging all individuals with symptoms of gonorrhea to report for culture testing, as New Zealand health clinics have been placed on a high state of alert. Typical symptoms include pain when urinating, blood and thick green/yellow discharge from the penis and vagina, however, individuals can be asymptomatic and still be infected.

As current treatment models have been rendered ineffective, Australian health officials are looking towards other avenues of treating the resistant "sex superbug" and are urging everyone to practice safe sex to avoid further infections.