The World Health Organisation has warned that doctors have run out of effective antibiotics to treat the bacteria causing gonorrhoea.
Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection caused by bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae or gonococcus. It is mainly found in discharge from the penis and in vaginal fluid and can easily pass between people through unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex.
A WHO expert, Teodora Wi, in statement in Geneva, Switzerland, said that as gonorrhoea infections were increasing, the bacteria causing the sexual disease is becoming more resistant to drugs used to treat the infection. Wi said, “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 gonorrhoea is actually more common.”
The health agency estimated that 78 million people are infected annually with the disease, adding that infections were highest in the African region, where one in 10 men was infected annually.
WHO identified decrease condom use, increased mobility as well as poor disease monitoring and inadequate treatment for the high infection rates.
Gonorrhoea can infect the genitals, rectum and throat. It can lead to inflammation of the pelvis and to infertility.
Currently, only three new drugs are being developed, because pharmaceutical companies know that the bacteria will soon become resistant to any new antibiotic.
WHO Antimicrobial expert, Marc Sprenger, said that to control gonorrhoea henceforth, doctors would not only need new medicines, but also a rapid diagnostic tool and a vaccine yet to be developed.
By: Bukola Adebayo
The Punch News
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