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Two people in Australia have been diagnosed with the STI for the first time as it makes the jump from South East Asia.

Health officials confirmed the cases of gonorrhoea – also called the clap – were found to be resistant to antibiotics in the last month.

And Australia is packed with both British tourists on their holidays along with more than 1.2 million expats from the UK.

One case was uncovered in Queensland, while the second was found in Western Australia.

Tourists were feared to be at risk after a UK man became the world’s first to be diagnosed with super gonorrhoea after a holiday in Asia.

Gonorrhoea is spread through all forms of sex and can leave women infertile if untreated.

(Image: GETTY)

Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendon Murphy said: “Drug-resistant gonorrhoea exists in many countries, including Australia.

“However, these latest cases and a recent one in the UK appear to be the first reported that are resistant to all of the antibiotics that have been in routine use against gonorrhoea.”

The new strain is resistant to both ceftriaxone and azithromycin – the two drugs recommended to fight gonorrhoea the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO raised concerns two years ago that the STI could become immune to antibiotics in a “matter of years”.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY)

Australia introduced dual-antibiotic treatment for gonorrhoea in 2014 a strain was found to be resistant to ceftriaxone.

And the National Alert System for Critical Antimicrobial Resistance warned the case was a “warning shot across the bow”.

Medical adviser John Turnidge said: "It’s getting harder to treat illnesses with effective antibiotics.

“The risk is: 'Are the antimicrobial treatments we are using going to survive?’"

The UK man’s symptoms kicked in after he returned from his holiday.

Despite being put on a course of antibiotics, the infection remained in his throat.

The patient underwent treatment with daily injections of ertapenem, another antibiotic.

More than 35,000 people a year are infected with gonorrhoea in England, with only chlamydia and genital warts being more common STIs.

Official figures reveal 78 million people worldwide contract gonorrhoea every year

Worryingly the infection does not always cause symptoms – so it can regularly go untreated.

Discharge from the penis or vagina are the most common signs and it can also lead to pelvic inflammatory disease.

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has previously written to GPs warning that gonorrhoea could become an "untreatable disease".