Gonorrhoea is evolving to resist antibiotics

Gonorrhoea is becoming harder and in some cases impossible to treat with antibiotics, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a press release.

"The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them," said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the WHO.

Each year, about 78 million people worldwide are infected with gonorrhoea, the WHO said. Data from 77 countries collected by WHO shows there is a widespread resistance to older, cheaper antibiotics and in some countries, the infection has become untreatable by all known antibiotics.

Gonorrhoea has developed resistance to nearly every class of antibiotics used to treat it such as penicillin, tetracycline and fluoroquinolones.

Now WHO advise doctors to switch to a two-drug combination: ceftriaxone and azithromycin.

If gonorrhoea is left untreated, the infection can cause serious health problems including long-term abdominal pain and pelvic inflammatory disease, which could lead to ectopic pregnancy and infertility.