a new year typically brings with it a renewed sense of hope and unabashed optimism for the months ahead. this year, we’re getting super gonorrhea instead.the world health organization (who) is warning that a drug-resistant strain of the highly infectious, sexually transmitted disease is on the rise and efforts to combat covid-19 have only accelerated the problem. it recently
updated its treatment recommendations in an attempt to address the issue:“overuse of antibiotics in the community can fuel the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhea,” a who spokesman told
the sun online. “azithromycin — a common antibiotic for treating respiratory infections — was used for covid-19 treatment earlier in the epidemic.”the lockdowns meant to contain the pandemic have only made matters worse by interfering with the usual treatment of all sexually transmitted infections. “this means more sti cases are not diagnosed properly with more people self-medicating as a result,” the who said. “such a situation can fuel emergence of resistance in gonorrhea including gonorrhea superbug (super gonorrhea) or gonorrhea with high level resistance to current antibiotics recommended to treat it.”commonly known as the clap, gonorrhea is caused by an infection from the bacteria
neisseria gonorrhea, according to the government of canada. it can be spread through unprotected sex with an infected person or be passed from a mother to her newborn infant. in women, the infection can result in pelvic inflammation disease, which can cause abdominal pain, fever and infertility. in men, it can cause epididymitis, a painful inflammation of the tubes leading to the testicles, which can also cause infertility if not treated.the rate of reported cases in canada has increased more than 81 per cent over the 10 years leading up to the pandemic. although there were just over 28,000 cases of gonorrhea
diagnosed in the country in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, that number is likely on the rise as an over-reliance on antibiotics has made the infection difficult to treat.in the early days of the pandemic, as overwhelmed hospitals reached their breaking point, doctors threw everything in sight at the virus.
in the uk, for example, this meant that three-quarters of patients were given antibiotics for their covid-like symptoms while less than one per cent of patients actually had a bacterial infection. similar studies in the u.s. showed 71 per cent of patients were treated with antibiotics when they were only needed by four per cent of patients.subsequent trials have confirmed that many early treatment efforts, such as the use of azithromycin,
had no effect on the symptoms of covid-19 patients. according to the cdc, gonorrhea is now resistant to all but one class of antibiotics and half of all modern-day infections have shown resistance to at least one antibiotic.as the medical community races to discover new methods of treatment for gonorrhea and other bacteria-based infections, hanan balkhy, the assistant director general of who’s antimicrobial resistance division, urged caution when giving certain drugs to patients — particularly those with covid-19. “the use of antibiotics will not treat them, but it will create resistance among bacteria that already exists in our bodies,” she said. “so, it’s a very complex scenario, but the bottom line is antibiotics should not be prescribed unless there’s a clear medical indication for them.”
dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.cadon’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life.
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