Drug-resistant strain of Gonorrhoea 'could become untreatable'

Gonorrhoea could become untreatable if GPs fail to prescribe the correct drugs, England's chief medical officer has reportedly warned.

In a letter to all GPs and pharmacies, Dame Sally Davies urges practitioners to ensure they are prescribing the correct drugs after the rise of a highly resistant strain of the infection was discovered in Leeds, according to the BBC.

At least 16 cases were detected in northern England this year, 12 of which were in Leeds,

The new 'super-gonorrhoea' strain is resistant to first-line antibiotic azithromycin. It was first reported in Leeds in March but spread, with cases reported in patients from Macclesfield, Oldham and Scunthorpe.

In her letter, the chief medical officer said:

Almost 35,000 cases of gonorrhoea were reported in England last year - the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK after chlamydia, with the majority of cases affecting people under the age of 25.

Patients may experience discharge or pain while urinating, but around 10% of men and almost half of women do not suffer any symptoms. If untreated, gonorrhoea can result in severe complications and lead to infertility or septicaemia in rare cases.

Concerns have been growing over "untreatable" strains of gonorrhoea ever since the the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned in 2012 that drug-resistant forms of the STI were spreading across Europe.