For as long as people have received the talk about ‘the birds and the bees,’ they have known about the dangers that come along with choosing to refrain from abstinence and proper protection.
According to Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, a new strain of the sexually-transmitted disease gonorrhea, otherwise known as ‘super gonorrhea,’ may become an untreatable disease. Her announcement came after sexual health doctors in the city of Leeds found that the disease was “rapidly” developing resistance to antibiotic medications azithromycin and ceftriaxone back in March. Though the majority of the outbreak is in Leeds, cases have also been reported in Oldham, Macclesfield, Scunthorpe and other areas of England.
Azithromycin pills and ceftriaxone injections are intended to be consumed in a combined regiment; however, the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV found that seven UK-based online pharmacies were only offering the oral medication. By taking only one part of the regiment, it becomes easier for the disease to develop resistance.
Davies has written announcements and letters asking pharmacists and general practitioners to prescribe the correct combination of drugs in response to the emergence of the super strain.
Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoea and is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex. Symptoms of the STD include thick green or yellow discharge, pain during urination and bleeding in between periods. Even if symptoms are not expressed, the infection can easily be spread. If it goes untreated, gonorrhea may cause infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and can even be passed on to the fetus during pregnancy.
Gonorrhea has grown to be the second most common STD in England, which the number of infections increasing from 29,419 in 2013 to 34,958 in 2014. Jan Clarke, a doctor and the president of BASHH, said that the priority of the situation is to protect the people of England to encourage pharmacists and general practitioners to follow the proper treatment protocols.
The Centers for Disease Control reported that there is an ‘alarming’ rise in the number of STDs.
