THE UK’S chief medical officer has warned that one of the world’s oldest sexually transmittable diseases could eventually become untreatable.

Dame Sally Davies said that Gonorrhoea could become resistant to drugs, and has written to GPs and pharmacies to ensure they are prescribing the correct medication for it.

Her concerns come after cases of “super-Gonorrhoea” emerged in Leeds earlier this year.

“Gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease due to the continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance,” Dame Davies wrote. “It is therefore extremely important that suboptimal treatment does not occur.”

Some patients are also not getting the right antibiotics needed to clear the infection.

A study by Public Health England this year revealed doctors were still prescribing the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, even though it has not been recommended since 2005.

“We know that Gonorrhoea is resistant to quite a lot of antibiotics and does develop resistance quite rapidly to new antibiotics as well,” the study’s lead author, Dr Gwenda Hughes, said.

“The problem is obviously that if people are prescribing the wrong antibiotics, the patient won’t be effectively treated.”

Gonorrhoea is caused by bacteria known as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and affects the genitals, throat or anus. It affects both men and women and is easily transmitted during sex.

If left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility for women.

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