by disease tracker on November 11, 2012
The symptoms of the new strain of gonorrhea are much more difficult to detect, even for the sufferer. ‘Old’ gonorrhea of the urethra caused acute pain often described as like ‘passing razor blades. However, the new strain is nowhere near as painful and only detectable by the discharge simultaneous with urination. This increases the chances of the infection going undiscovered and untreated. STDs can be prevented by only having protected sex and including sexual partners in any diagnosis and early treatment.
via Drug Resistant Gonorrhea Superbug Spreads from Japan.
by disease tracker on November 11, 2012
The New Yorker discusses the connection between gonorrhea a.k.a. “the clap” and oral sex:“A driving factor behind the rise in gonorrhea infections, as well as the trend toward total antibiotic resistance, is our complacent attitude toward oral sex. Saliva contains enzymes that destroy gonorrhea, so kissing and cunnilingus don’t spread it. But fellatio, which brings the tip of the urethra near the pharynx, carries a high risk of infecting one partner or the other. According to Dr. Peter Rice, a gonorrhea expert at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, fellatio ‘is the only predictable way to transmit gonococcal infection to the pharynx.’”“The emerging drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea are most common among commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men, perhaps because these groups are more likely to be infected repeatedly. But the wider picture is more complex … The adaptive nature of the gonococcus, coupled with the prevalence of unprotected oral sex, all but insures that drug-resistant gonorrhea will eventually take root in the general heterosexual population.”
via Oral Sex Could Spread Antibotic-Resistant Gonorrhea Superbug.