SUPER GONORRHEA IS SPREADING: WHAT'S ORAL SEX GOT TO DO WITH IT

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Not all sore throats are strep throat. In fact most aren't. Here's one throat infection that can be mistaken for strep throat. (Photo: Shutterstock)
You never want to see the words "gonorrhea" and "super" in the same sentence, such as "super, you have gonorrhea" or "gonorrhea is super." However, "super" gonorrhea is becoming an increasing reality around the world.

Super gonorrhea is not the next DC Comics television show or movie, like Superman or Supergirl. It is a sexually transmitted bacteria, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, that is resistant to most if not all the antibiotics that we have available. A slang term for gonorrhea is "the clap"...but no one is clapping about the around 78 million new gonorrhea infections that occur each year. As a just-released World Health Organization (WHO) report explains, "data from 77 countries show that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhea–a common sexually transmitted infection–much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat." In fact the WHO has indicated that strains of untreatable gonorrhea have emerged in three countries: Japan, France and Spain. Just super.

Why is antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea spreading? One problem is unprotected oral sex. Remember, unprotected oral sex is not "safe sex." (You know the joke that the only safe unprotected sex is when you are in different zip codes.) Oral sex can transmit Neisseria gonorrhoeae from someone's privates to your throat and vice versa. And up to 90% of people with oral gonorrhea have no or minimal symptoms. Yes, many people do not even realize that they have oral gonorrhea. Think about that next time you want a good conversation starter at a cocktail party.

Even if you do develop symptoms, the symptoms can be hard to distinguish from typical symptoms of other types of throat infections such as strep throat (another name for streptococcal pharyngitis): sore throat, difficulty swallowing and redness of the throat. Symptoms typically emerge one to three weeks after the initial infection. Then, if your doctor doesn't test you for strep throat when you actually have "gonorrhea throat" and instead automatically gives you antibiotics, the antibiotics can then select for antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. You can then pass antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea to someone else's privates through oral sex. This is the circle of life for super gonorrhea.

Your doctor can diagnose oral gonorrhea via a throat swab or culture. Standard treatment for gonorrhea is a shot (intramuscular injection, not a drink) of ceftriaxone and oral azithromycin. However, the emergence of super gonorrhea is decreasing and potentially eliminating treatment options. Oh, and gargling with salt water or mouthwash is not a treatment for oral gonorrhea:


Without effective treatment, your body may be able to naturally clear gonorrhea from your body in weeks to months. However, this does not always occur, and untreated gonorrhea has the potential to wreak all kinds of havoc. If you are a woman, untreated gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can in turn lead to things such as pelvic or abdominal pain, ectopic pregnancies (when the fetus grows outside the uterus), pregnancy complications and infertility. If you are a man, untreated gonorrhea can cause bad inflammation and pain in your testicles. If you are a man, that last sentence may have gotten your attention. Once you recover from that sentence, keep in mind that such inflammation can also lead to infertility or sterility. Untreated, the bacteria can also spread to other parts of your body and even be life threatening.

Super gonorrhea is scary, more scary than this "zombie fish," regardless of what Aimee Lutkin for Jezebel and her poll may say:
What can you do to protect against super gonorrhea? Dispel the notion that oral sex is automatically safe sex. Unless you are sure that your partner does not have gonorrhea, use condoms or dental dams for protection. Of course, condoms or dental dams are not 100% effective but they are much better than using nothing. Moreover, don't automatically treat sore throats with antibiotics, and be clear to your doctor about your sexual history. You and your partner also should make sure you are tested and be upfront with each other about sore throats or any other symptoms.
While super gonorrhea won't be a character on the next Justice League movie, unless something changes, you probably will be seeing more and more of it in the coming years. The WHO also expressed concern that only three new possible antibiotics are under clinical development for gonorrhea: solithromycin (which has recently completed a phase III clinical trial), zoliflodacin (phase II) and gepotidacin (phase II). Since many drugs under development never actually make it to market, without more being done to stimulate antibiotic research and development, the future of gonorrhea looks super...for gonorrhea, that is.

Source: www.forbes.com


#BePrepared
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