newyorker88
02-08-2017, 10:36 AM
Take care when it comes to oral sex
http://m.todayonline.com/daily-focus/health/dangerous-silent-reservoir-gonorrhoea-throat
The human throat houses billions of bacteria, most of them harmless. But one species is becoming more common, and it is anything but benign.
Drug-resistant gonorrhoea has been on the rise for years; the World Health Organization has reported an increase in more than 50 countries. Now scientists say the epidemic is being driven by a particular mode of transmission: oral sex.
“The throat infections act as a silent reservoir,” said Emilie Alirol, the head of the sexually transmitted infections program at the Global Antibiotics Research and Development Partnership. “Transmission is very efficient from someone who has gonorrhoea in their throat to their partner via oral sex.”
Oral gonorrhoea is hard to detect and treat. Even more worrisome, these bacteria pick up resistance to antibiotics directly from other bacteria in the throat — and then are communicated to sex partners.
Only one commercially available antibiotic still consistently works against drug-resistant strains. And now there’s a new worry: so-called super gonorrhoea, impervious to every standard treatment.
“This bug always outsmarts us,” said Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “It’s really good at figuring out ways to become resistant.”
http://m.todayonline.com/daily-focus/health/dangerous-silent-reservoir-gonorrhoea-throat
The human throat houses billions of bacteria, most of them harmless. But one species is becoming more common, and it is anything but benign.
Drug-resistant gonorrhoea has been on the rise for years; the World Health Organization has reported an increase in more than 50 countries. Now scientists say the epidemic is being driven by a particular mode of transmission: oral sex.
“The throat infections act as a silent reservoir,” said Emilie Alirol, the head of the sexually transmitted infections program at the Global Antibiotics Research and Development Partnership. “Transmission is very efficient from someone who has gonorrhoea in their throat to their partner via oral sex.”
Oral gonorrhoea is hard to detect and treat. Even more worrisome, these bacteria pick up resistance to antibiotics directly from other bacteria in the throat — and then are communicated to sex partners.
Only one commercially available antibiotic still consistently works against drug-resistant strains. And now there’s a new worry: so-called super gonorrhoea, impervious to every standard treatment.
“This bug always outsmarts us,” said Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “It’s really good at figuring out ways to become resistant.”