Gonorrhea can Become Untreatable: Dame Sally Davies

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Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has issued a statement to general practitioners and pharmacies all over England on the emergence of a super-gonorrhea. A letter to BBC described the strain as untreatable and resistant to an antibiotic commonly used to treat the condition.

Gonorrhea is typically contracted by having unprotected sex with an infected individual. Symptoms of infection include feeling pain while urinating and excretion of a thick greenish or yellowish liquid from the vaginal area.

The infection can be treated by taking two antibiotics together: azithromycin and ceftriaxone. This new strain has been found to be resistant to azithromycin.

"Gonorrhea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease due to the continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance."

The letter was issued after reports from the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV came in indicating that patients were not supplied with both drugs needed to treat the infection.

New York Daily News says that Public Health England conducted a study earlier this year which revealed that doctors were still prescribing ciprofloxacin even though the group has stopped recommending the drug as a course of treatment since 2005.

"We know that gonorrhea is resistant to quite a lot of antibiotics and does develop resistance quite rapidly to new antibiotics as well," head researcher Dr. Gwenda Hughes, told reporters. "The problem is obviously that if people are prescribing the wrong antibiotics, the patient won't be effectively treated."

Next to Chlamydia, Mirror UK says gonorrhea is one of the most common bacterial infections in the UK. In 2013, 29,419 infections were reported.

The number of cases jumped by 19 percent the following year affecting close to 35,000 individuals. A large percentage of the cases involved people aged 25 years and younger.

In September of this year, 16 individuals have been reported to have contracted the antibiotic-resistant strain.

BBC says treating the condition with only one drug allows the Neisseria gonorrhea bacterium to become resistant to antibiotics. "It is therefore extremely important that suboptimal treatment does not occur," lead pharmaceutical officer Dr. Keith Ridge added in the signed document.

Dr. Andrew Lee is a specialist on communicable disease control at Public Health England. In a report by The Telegraph, Lee said that strains of super-gonorrhea emerge from time to time.

These strains can be treated by using alternative forms of antibiotics. Lee has made a few suggestions on how men and women can reduce their chances of contracting the disease.

"Individuals can significantly reduce their risk of any STI by using condoms with all new and casual partners and getting tested regularly." he said.