How gonorrhea is becoming untreatable

A British man with gonorrhea in his throat has sparked fresh fears the STI is rapidly becoming a superbug.

Health experts fear the disease is hurtling towards becoming untreatable with increasing numbers of cases where patients fail to respond to antibiotics.

The patient, a heterosexual man who had just returned to the UK from Japan, was treated using a combination of antibiotics.

But while there was no sign of the infection in his urine, tests showed he still had gonorrhea in his throat more than two weeks after he started treatment.

It was only after doctors doubled the dose, the unidentified man finally became clear of the infection - three months later. 

The case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Experts at Public Health England (PHE) warned it was a clear case of 'treatment failure' and a further sign the infection was getting harder to treat.

Gwenda Hughes, head of sexually transmitted infections for PHE, told Health Day: 'This case highlights that gonorrhea may become untreatable due to antimicrobial resistance.

'Despite successful treatment of this case with higher doses of antibiotics, this approach to treatment would only be an interim solution.'

It follows an outbreak of 'super gonorrhoea' in the north of England, which triggered a national alert at the end of last year.

Cases of the drug-resistant gonorrhoea strain were confirmed in West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, London and the North East though many other cases are likely to have gone unreported. 

It is caused by a bacteria quickly becoming immune to one of the last two available antibiotics.

Experts fear it will soon develop a resistance to the second drug – and there are no others in reserve.

Gonorrhoea is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK after chlamydia. 

The majority of cases affect people under the age of 25. 

Around 10 per cent of men and almost half of women with the infection do not experience symptoms. 

Left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease which can cause a blockage and result in infertility. 

Gonorrhoea can also be passed on to an unborn baby during pregnancy.

In men, the disease can cause a painful condition in the tubes attached to the testicles. 

In rare cases, this may cause a man to be sterile, or prevent him from being able to father a child.

Rarely, untreated gonorrhea can also spread to the blood or joints, which can be life-threatening.

In recent years, both genital and oral forms of gonorrhea have shown antibiotic resistance.

In this case, the patient had had sexual relations in Japan with a woman who had been treated for gonorrhea.

Ten days after he returned, he went to the doctors complaining of 'urogenital' symptoms.

He was given the standard treatment - a single 500 milligram injectable dose of the antibiotic ceftriaxone (Rocephin) alongside the antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax). 

However 15 days after treatment, the infection was still found in his throat.

Tests almost three months later also found it was still present and he was prescribed a double dose of the same treatments. 

Researchers said this time tests revealed it had worked. 

However the patient refused further testing for syphilis and HIV.

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