Nothing says love like a gift that keeps on giving, except when it's a sexually transmitted disease.
The Atlanta based CDC reports that gonorrhea, one of the most common STD's in the U.S., is increasingly becoming resistant to one of the last known effective antibiotics.
Gail Bolan, director of the CDC's sexually transmitted disease prevention program states, "During the past three years, the wily gonococcus has become less susceptible to our last line of antimicrobial defense, threatening our ability to cure gonorrhea.”
According to the CDC, gonorrhea has a long history of developing immunity to antibiotics. However, the medical industry has always been able to find stronger medicines to fight it.
That is until now. About 1.7 percent of gonorrhea is currently resistant to cephalosporins, the last line of defense against gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea affects 700,000 each year in the U.S. The resistant strains are showing up more in the western states and in men who have sex with men.
Several diseases are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria are developing resistance faster than scientists can invent new medicines to fight them.
The CDC says in men symptoms of gonorrhea include a burning sensation when urinating, or a white, yellow, or green discharge. Sometimes men with gonorrhea get painful or swollen testicles. In women, the symptoms are often mild and most women have no symptoms. Symptoms can be mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection. The initial symptoms are a painful or burning sensation when urinating.
For more information on gonorrhea go to the Atlanta based CDC page here.
To find clinic that does STD testing in the Atlanta area click here.
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