Urgent warning over surge in 'super-gonorrhoea' - thousands could have 'untreatable' bug and not know it, experts warn
Cases of terrifying 'super-gonorrhoea' in England have almost doubled in a single year, official data shows.
Health officials say there has been a rising prevalence of a strain of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) that doesn't respond to antibiotics usually used to treat it.
Experts have warned this surge could render a once easily dealt with condition 'untreatable'.
Left untreated, gonorrhoea can permanently render patients infertile or leave them with agonising long term inflammation in their pelvis.
And worryingly a significant portion of people may not even realise they have the STI, as they have no obvious symptoms.
Officials say most cases detected in England are linked patients who had travelled to the Asia-Pacific region, where the resistant strains are more common.
As such they have urged Britons to use condoms both while at home and abroad.
While transmission of the drug-resistant strain of the STI within England has been 'limited', experts say increasing case numbers are giving the disease more chances to spread locally.
Cases of an imported 'super-gonorrhoea', that could one day make the disease essentially untreatable, are on the rise in England. Stock image
Symptoms of gonorrhoea include green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain when urinating, as well as pain and discomfort in the rectum.
For women specifically, symptoms can include lower abdominal pain or bleeding between periods.
Data from The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows 17 cases of gonorrhoea resistant to ceftriaxone, the front-line medication used to treat the STI, were detected in England between January 2024 and March 2025.
This compares to just 16 such cases for the entirety of 2022 and 2023.
Even more concerning are cases of what experts call 'extensively drug resistant' — or XDR gonorrhoea.
This strain of the infection is resistant to both ceftriaxone and as well as other medications, surviving and even thriving in patients despite treatment.
So far, 9 cases of XDR gonorrhoea have been recorded between January 2024 to March 2025.
This is almost double the five XDR cases in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to 2022, only 9 cases of the strain had ever been detected in England.
UKHSA figures show there were about 54,965 total gonorrhoea diagnoses at sexual health services in the first 9 months of 2024.
This compares to more than 85,000 in the whole of 2023, which was the highest number since records began in 1918.
However, as many people with gonorrhoea do not show any symptoms, many thousands more could be infected than official figures suggest.
Some studies, cited by the NHS, state that almost half of women and one in 10 men infected with gonorrhoea are symptom-less and unaware they have the infection.
Dr Katy Sinka, head of UKHSA's STI section, said: 'Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, which could make it untreatable in future.
'If left untreated, it can cause serious problems like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.'
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria that causes gonorrhoea, appears on the UKHSA's list of viruses and bacteria which pose the greatest threat to public health.
Dr Sinka added: 'The best way to stop STIs is by using a condom.
'If you've had condomless sex with a new or casual partner, get tested, whatever your age, gender or sexual orientation. This includes when you are having sex abroad.
'Early detection not only protects your health but prevents transmission to others. Many STIs show no symptoms, which is why regular testing is so important.
'Testing is quick, free and confidential.'
British medics have seen the drugs they can use to treat gonorrhoea diminish over time.
Doctors used to prescribe the antibiotic ciprofloxacin to treat the STI.
But in 2005 it was no longer recommended as a treatment because the bacteria had become resistant.
Another antibiotic — cefixime — was also dropped for treating gonorrhoea in 2011 after the bacteria again developed a resistance to it.
