- An Austrian has contracted a new strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to common treatments.
- According to scientists, he had unprotected sex with a prostitute in Cambodia.
- If such strains continue to spread, many cases of gonorrhea can become incurable, they said.
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An Austrian who has had sex abroad has contracted a new strain of so-called “super gonorrhea” that is resistant to most antibiotics commonly used to treat the infection, scientists said.
This is the second time that a strain of “super gonorrhea” has been discovered, since another was discovered in 2018 in many countries. The term “super gonorrhea” refers to a bug that has a high level of resistance to current recommended treatments, according to the World Health Organization.
If multidrug-resistant strains of gonorrhea continue to spread, many cases of STIs could become incurable, according to a report in a case published Thursday in the medical journal Eurosurveillance, published by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Most cases of gonorrhea do not cause symptoms, but can still cause serious complications such as infertility if it is not possible to treat the infection. Symptoms include discharge and pain when a person urinates, and sore testicles or irregular vaginal bleeding.
The man feels pain days after unprotected sex
An unidentified man in his 50s had unprotected sex with a prostitute in Cambodia in April 2022, according to the case report. Five days later, he was in pain while urinating and a discharge was coming out of his penis.
A smear showed that the strain he caught was highly resistant to azithromycin, which was usually one of the first antibiotics used to treat gonorrhea, and resistant to other antibiotics, including ceftriaxone, cefixime, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline.
Treatment for gonorrhea varies from country to country, but usually begins with a combination of azithromycin and ceftriaxone. In the United States, the CDC recommends ceftriaxone as the sole antibiotic for most cases of gonorrhea in the first place.
The man was initially treated with azithromycin and ceftriaxone. Two weeks later, his symptoms subsided, but the penis swab still showed gonorrhea. Tests have shown that his “super” bug is still susceptible to treatment with an antibiotic containing a penicillin called co-amoxiclav. The drug appears to cure gonorrhea, the researchers said.
The authors of the report on the case said that the “promising” results of the man’s tampon suggested that two experimental drugs called lefamulin and zoliflodacin were also likely to work against him. The two drugs are being tested at a late stage of a clinical trial, they said.
Using condoms is one of the main ways to avoid getting gonorrhea
Gonorrhea caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae is one of the most commonly reported sexually transmitted infections in the United States, with more than 1.5 million Americans catching it each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC says on its website that using condoms during sex and monogamous sex with an uninfected person are the only ways to reduce the risk of contracting any type of gonorrhea.
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