British man catches ‘world’s worst’ and first case of super gonorrhoea

A British man has caught a super strength strand of gonorrhoea believed to be the “world’s worst” case. The super gonorrhoea has resisted the main antibiotic treatment for the first time in documented medical history.

The unnamed patient contracted the infection from a sexual encounter in Southeast Asia with a woman earlier this year. His regular partner in the UK tested negative for the sexually transmitted infection.

Public Health England said it was the first time gonorrhoea cannot be cured with the main antibiotics treatment, which is a combination of azithromycin and ceftriaxone. The World Health Organization and the European Centres for Disease Control said the case is a world first.

“This is the first time a case has displayed such high-level resistance to both of these drugs and to most other commonly used antibiotics,” Dr Gwenda Hughes of PHE said. She added, “PHE actively monitors, and acts on, the spread of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea and potential treatment failures, and has introduced enhanced surveillance to identify and manage resistant strains of infection promptly to help reduce further spread.”

Health officials are now tracing any sexual partners of the man to contain the superbug’s spread, the BBC reports.

Gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It can be spread from one person to another through vaginal, oral or anal sex. It is a curable disease and can be prevented with the use of condoms during sex.

More than half of the women infected have no easily recognisable symptoms, while it is about one in 10 men. Symptoms for women include thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, burning sensation during urination, and inflammation of the penile urethra. For women, they may experience vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain and inflammation of the uterine cervix. In rare cases, they may observe skin lesions and joint infections.