The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has reported that gonorrhoea is now developing resistance to the last two antibiotics able to treat it. In other words, the sexually transmitted disease is on the verge of being resistance to all antibiotics, and untreatable by current medicine. An estimated 820,000 people are infected with the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria each year in the US - with more than half of those aged between 15 and 24. Right now, doctors are using a combination of two antibiotics, azithromycin and ceftriaxone - to treat the disease, a strategy they'd hoped would stop the bacteria from becoming resistant to either of the drugs in the near future. But now research has shown that resistance both antibiotics is on the rise in the US. In 2014, the percentage of gonorrhoea samples that were shown to be resistant to azithromycin rose from 0.6 to 2.5 percent - a four-fold increase. The percentage of ceftriaxone resistance doubled from 0.4 to 0.8 percent. http://www.sciencealert.com/gonorrhoea-might-soon-be-resistant-to-all-antibiotics Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent health problems in both women and men. In women, untreated gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Some of the complications of PID are: Formation of scar tissue that blocks fallopian tubes; Ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the womb) Infertility (inability to get pregnant) Long-term pelvic/abdominal pain. In men, gonorrhea can cause a painful condition in the tubes attached to the testicles known as epididymitis. 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 your blood or joints. This condition can be life-threatening. Untreated gonorrhea may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV – the virus that causes AIDS. http://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/stdfact-gonorrhea.htm
