Health authorities are on high alert, following confirmation that a new drug resistant ‘superbug’ strain of gonorrhea has been detected in Australia.
The bug, which has been found in nearly all states, is ringing major alarm bells, as conventional methods of getting rid of the infection are often no longer working.Until relatively recently, the disease – commonly referred to as VD – was easily cured with antibiotics.
Professor John Turnidge, senior medical advisor at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, told The Age that the emergence of such strains means Australia could soon be facing a major health crisis.
‘We are getting close to untreatable infection with these super bugs,’ he told the paper.
‘Not having antibiotics to treat these infections would be a nightmare. It means people will die that don’t need to die.’
Drug resistant strains of bacteria have emerged due to overprescribing antibiotics, and patients not taking their full treatment – allowing the bacteria to develop immunity to common antibiotic drugs.
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