Some cases of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea are now untreatable due to resistance to antibiotics, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them,” said WHO medical officer Dr. Teodora Wi in a statement.
About 78 million people get gonorrhea infections every year, according to the WHO, which also notes complications from the STI have a larger impact on women.
WHO Director of Antimicrobial Resistance Dr. Marc Sprenger said in a statement that corralling the infection requires new tools for better prevention, new antibiotics, and in the future, a vaccine against gonorrhea.
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