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WHO Covid-19 medication could cause ‘Super Gonorrhea’

By Hillary Kimuyu December 30th, 2020 1 min read

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the overuse of antibiotics to treat the coronavirus has resulted in the more rapid spread of a type of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.

WHO says that those ‘unnecessarily’ partaking the antibiotics have caused the sexually transmitted infection (STI) to find a new way to thrive and become resistant to the antibiotic, according to The Sun.

“Overuse of antibiotics in the community can fuel the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhea,” by killing off forms of the infection that are vulnerable to the drug, and creating a survival-of-the -fittest environment for variants of the bacterium that are immune to the drug’s effects to thrive in, explained a WHO spokesperson.

This so-called ‘Super Gonorrhea’ does not respond to the normal first-line treatments, making it particularly dangerous and uncomfortable for those afflicted.

One reason the new strain is blowing up is because most people aren’t going to the hospital unless they come down with Covid-19 symptoms. Instead they’re self-medicating, meaning, a WHO spokesperson added, that doctors aren’t catching this disease in time.

And to make matters worse, ‘super gonorrhea’ is extremely resistant to antibiotics.

Azithromycin is a common antibiotic for treating respiratory infections – was used for Covid-19 treatment earlier in the epidemic.

“During the pandemic, STI services have also been disrupted. This means more STI cases are not diagnosed properly with more people self-medicating as a result,” WHO added.