On the other hand, men can notice the presence of penile discharge (white, yellow or green) with tenderness in the testicles. So, for example, symptoms in women might include changes in vaginal discharge (it can become thin or watery, yellowish to green in colour), pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen, bleeding between menstrual periods or more intensive periods. For some, the early symptoms may appear as early as 14 days after the infection took place, while other might fail to notice any changes whatsoever until a couple of months have passed or the infection has spread to other parts of the body.Īs is the case with many other STIs, symptoms can also depend on the sex of the person infected.
This means that different individuals may notice different signs and symptoms of gonorrhoea in different order, at different times. And even when they do manifest, there is rarely any consistent and uniform pattern of their development among those affected. Super gonorrhoea symptomsĪnother thing that gonorrhoea is known for is its ability to be present within the organism and still be contagious without manifesting any noticeable symptoms. Again, everyone who is sexually active is at risk. It has been observed both in homosexual men and in heterosexuals, and while it might be somewhat more common among younger people, the rates of gonorrhoea among those aged 45 or more are actually on the rise. Super gonorrhoea follows these patterns, but is not exclusive to either one of the mentioned high-risk groups. In addition to this, the rates of gonorrhoea seem to be highest in the urban areas, with London housing absolute majority of diagnosed cases.ĭespite this, gonorrhoea can affect anyone who is sexually active, especially if precautions related to safe sex practices are not taken. Among heterosexual people, around 55% of cases were discovered in the age group 15-24. Gonorrhoea is the third most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection in the United Kingdom, with a significant portion of those affected being homosexual men (up to 68% of all diagnosed cases). The only difference, of course, is that typical gonorrhoea can be treated with antibiotics relatively easily, while super gonorrhoea might require much more complex treatment. When it comes to STI trends, statistics and expected patterns, involving data on high-risk groups for example, there is no significant difference between typical gonorrhoea and super gonorrhoea – both are caused by bacteria belonging to the same family of microbes and both conditions are spread the same way, causing the same symptoms and the same complications. With the media reports about drug-resistant super gonorrhoea going wild, we decided to present to our readers an article that will take an objective look at the issue, exploring the subject of super gonorrhoea in more detail. Some experts have gone as far as to compare antibiotic resistance to climate change due to its far-reaching consequences in the near future. The problem of ever-growing resistance to antibiotics among various strains of bacteria is often underestimated, despite the fact that this is a global and very serious problem. Super gonorrhoea and antibiotic resistance Why has antibiotic resistance developed in gonorrhoea?.Super gonorrhoea complications and long-term consequences.Super gonorrhoea and antibiotic resistance.
If this trend is to continue, the scientists hypothesize that the impact on global healthcare system will be major. It has to do with the bacterial infections in general, and the fact that our over-reliance on antibiotic has contributed to an increase in antibiotic resistance in bacteria in general. However, what actually captivates the public’s attention here is a much deeper and more serious. However, how did the media do when it comes to a new strain of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea for which the sensation-loving journalists quickly accepted the name ‘super-gonorrhoea’? With just 34 reported cases in 2014, when the hype about super-gonorrhoea was at its peak, many argued that outbreak of this scale is not really worthy of national news, let alone the title of ‘epidemic’ that many journalists pined on it. It is not unheard that media might overestimate (or underestimate) the potential impact and severity of certain problems, so some scepticism in this regard is certainly not unjustified. With sensationalism dominating mass media narratives, it is often difficult to assess how much of a threat are all those ‘outbreaks’ and ‘epidemics’ that are often being mentioned in the news.