At least three people worldwide are infected with totally
untreatable "superbug" strains of
go**rrhoea which they are likely to be spreading to others through ***, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
Giving details of studies showing a "very serious situation" with regard to highly drug-resistant forms of the ***ually-transmitted disease (STD), WHO experts said it was "only a matter of time" before last-resort
go**rrhoea antibiotics would be of ** use.
"Go**rrhoea is a very smart bug," said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the Geneva-based UN 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 go**rrhoea, an STD that can infect the genitals, rectum and throat. The infection, which in many cases has ** 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
go**rrhoea 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
go**rrhoea against which ** k**wn 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 diag**se and report
untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where
go**rrhoea is actually more common."
The WHO’s programme for monitoring trends in drug-resistant
go**rrhoea found in a study that from 2009 to 2014 there was widespread resistance to the first-line medicine ciprofloxacin, increasing resistance to a**ther antibiotic ***** called azithromycin, and the emergence of resistance to last-resort treatments k**wn as extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs).
In most countries, it said, ESCs are **w the only single antibiotics that remain effective for treating go**rrhoea. Yet resistance to them has already been reported in 50 countries. Manica Balasegaram, director of the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, said the situation was "grim" and there was a "pressing need" for new medicines.
The pipeline, however, is very thin, with only three potential new
go**rrhoea ***** in development and ** guarantee any will prove effective in final-stage trials, he said. "We urgently need to seize the opportunities we have with existing ***** and candidates in the pipeline," he told reporters. "Any new treatment developed should be accessible to everyone who needs it, while ensuring it is used appropriately, so that drug resistance is slowed as much as possible."
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