Untreatable gonorrhea infections

Kate Kelland reports at Reuters,

"Gonorrhea is a very smart bug," said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the Geneva-based U.N. health agency.

"Every time you introduce a new type of antibiotic to treat it, this bug develops resistance to it."

The WHO estimates 78 million people a year get gonorrhea, an STD that can infect the genitals, rectum and throat.

The infection, which in many cases has no symptoms on its own, can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility, as well as increasing the risk of getting HIV.

Wi, who gave details in a telephone briefing of two studies on gonorrhea published in the journal PLOS Medicine, said one had documented three specific cases - one each in Japan, France and Spain - of patients with strains of gonorrhea against which no known antibiotic is effective.

"These are cases that can infect others. It can be transmitted," she told reporters. "And these cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhea is actually more common."

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