Austrian doctors diagnosed a new, drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea. One million people suffer from this venereal disease every day. The situation is all the more difficult because science does not know a vaccine for the disease.
- In April, Austrian doctors diagnosed a new, previously unknown strain of drug-resistant gonorrhea. Only a combination of antibiotics saved the patient. Medicine does not know a vaccine for this venereal disease
- World Health Organization has included gonorrhea bacteria in the list of “high priority” pathogens requiring the development of new antibiotics
- Every day, around one million new infections with gonorrhea occur worldwide. This disease, if left untreated, leads to infertility and inflammation of the heart muscle and meninges
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At the beginning of April this year, a 50-year-old man came to one of the hospitals in Austria, complaining of pain while urinating and discharge from the urethra. During a medical interview, the patient admitted to having had heterosexual contact without a condom with a prostitute in Cambodia five days before the onset of the symptoms. On the basis of a urethral smear, medics determined that the 50-year-old had contracted gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea — symptoms in men
Gonorrhea is caused by a bacterium called gonorrhea. It usually lives in dark, warm and humid places — the mouth, rectum or genitourinary tract. Gonorrhea infection can also occur during intimate contact with an infected person. Untreated gonorrhea leads to complete infertility. It can also be passed on to babies during childbirth. In men, the first symptoms may appear after two days and include:
- purulent discharge from the urethra (main symptom),
- pain and burning in the urethra
- swelling of the epididymis
- itching and infection in the anal area,
- tenderness of the epididymis,
- inflammation of the glans.
Doctors immediately instituted treatment with antibiotics. After two weeks, most of the symptoms had resolved. However, a control test showed that the man is still sick. In other words, medics had a case of drug-resistant gonorrhea. Only the use of another antibiotic, amoxicillin, led the treatment to the expected completion.
Venereal diseases can wreak havoc on your body. If you have worrying symptoms, be sure to check that you are not infected. You can buy the urogenital package detecting 14 pathogens at Medonet Market.
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More detailed tests revealed that the 50-year-old fell ill with a strain of super gonorrhea — closely related to the strain known as “WHO Q”. The man who was infected with it presented to one of the doctors in the UK in 2018. The case was dubbed the “world’s worst case of gonorrhea”. Others have used the term super gonorrhea to describe this treatment that is particularly resistant to all treatments known to medicine.
«WHO Q» — what is this strain?
The “WHO Q” strain is considered to be the most resistant to treatment of gonorrhea. So far, there have been only three cases of its occurrence — in the UK and Australia in 2018. All patients infected with it had fleeting contact with women from Southeast Asia.
As noted by iflscience.com, such cases will become more frequent. The World Health Organization believes the same has included gonorrhea bacteria on the list of “high priority” pathogens requiring the development of new antibiotics. The matter is all the more serious because scientists have not yet developed any effective vaccine that would protect against infection with this disease.
Gonorrhea – prevention
While untreated gonorrhea can lead to serious consequences, there are several simple ways to avoid contracting the disease.
- Try to stay in a monogamous relationship and avoid sexual intercourse with a large number of partners;
- Use condoms that protect against venereal diseases;
- Avoid casual sexual relations and intercourse with infected people and during treatment;
- Watch your body;
- When using the public toilet, do not sit on the toilet seat;
- Do not share personal hygiene items with others;
- Absolutely avoid borrowing underwear or a bathing suit;
Gonorrhea in Poland and in the world – statistics
The World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that around 1 million new sexually transmitted infections occur worldwide every day. It is estimated that there are 376 million new infections with chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and trichomoniasis every year. These statistics look slightly better in Poland. The average incidence rate of gonorrhea is 1 case per 100 thousand. inhabitants, while in some voivodships (Lubuskie, Lubelskie, Opolskie and Podkarpackie) cases of this disease were individual.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time, we asked Orina Krajewska what, according to her, a holistic approach to health is. How to combine the three aspects – body, spirit and mind to enjoy balance and good health? You will hear about this and many other aspects of the topic in the latest episode of our podcast.