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Gonorrhoea was relatively benign in years gone by, going by the name “the clap” and was easily treated with penicillin.

Now it’s a monster. A super-resistant form is cutting a swath through straight and gay communities.

When it emerged in Leeds last year, the new superbug prompted a national alert when one of the main treatments became useless against it.

Cases of super gonorrhoea have now been detected in the West Midlands, London and southern England.

Even Public Health England ­acknowledges it’s proving difficult to contain the outbreak.

(Image: Getty)

The Neisseria ­gonorrhoeae infection is spread through unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex.

But about one in 10 heterosexual men and more than three-quarters of women and gay men have no symptoms. These can be a green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain urinating and bleeding between periods.

(Image: B2M Productions)

Left untreated, gonorrhoea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease. Inflammation of the ­fallopian tubes can cause a blockage which can result in infertility. Gonorrhoea can also be passed on to an unborn baby during pregnancy.

Doctors are afraid the STI could soon become untreatable. While the outbreak started in straight couples, it soon moved on to gay men.

“We’ve been worried it would spread to men who have sex with men,” said Peter Greenhouse, a Bristol-based consultant in sexual health.

“The problem is [they] tend to spread infections a lot faster simply because this group changes partners more quickly.”

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As the gonorrhoea bacterium can resist our most powerful antibiotics when used alone, two drugs, ­azithromycin and ceftriaxone, are used in combination.

However, resistance to azithromycin has developed and is spreading, and experts fear it’s only a matter of time before ceftriaxone fails too.

Dr Gwenda Hughes, the head of the sexually transmitted infections unit at Public Health England, said: “We cannot afford to be complacent. If strains emerge resistant to both azithromycin and ­ceftriaxone, treatment options would be limited as there is currently no new antibiotic available to treat the infection.”

She’s encouraging people to practise safe sex to minimise the risk of STIs.

There’s also a concerted campaign to find the sexual partners of people who have the superbug.

Public Health England warn the emergence of a dangerous superbug is creating a “perfect storm scenario”.