UH-OH

Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Discovered

Could become global health threat.

Scientists have discovered a “superbug” strain of gonorrhea in Japan that’s resistant to all forms of antibiotics normally used against the sexually transmitted disease. Magnus Unemo, the scientist who discovered the strain, called it “alarming” and said it could turn the once easily treatable infection into a global public-health threat. It’s partly because gonorrhea is so easily treatable that it has evolved into a superbug. "Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it," said Unemo.