An alarming report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that gonorrhea is growing resistant to drugs and may become untreatable over time. Recent studies that experts have said are just “the tip of the iceberg” have found that the disease, once associated with burning urine, is spreading at a rapid rate and building up a resistance to antibiotics and has somehow become less identifiable in symptoms in order to survive longer in the body. In the U.S., a total of 309,341 cases of gonorrhea were reported as of 2010.
"This organism has basically been developing resistance against every medication we've thrown at it," said Dr. Manjula Lusti-Narasimhan, a scientist in WHO’s department of sexually transmitted diseases. "The organism is what we term a superbug — it has developed resistance to virtually every class of antibiotics that exists. If gonococcal infections become untreatable, the health implications are significant." Lusti-Narasimhan and the other scientist at the Geneva briefing hope to spend more energy in finding a solution, along with informing people about the importance of safe intercourse.
