A 'super-superbug' causing antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea is running rampant through Australia with no effective treatment.

The bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae was by far the most common of 1,064 superbugs detected by a new national early warning system this year.

Coupled with a rise in cases for the common sexually transmitted infections, the bacteria leaves thousands of patients with no effective treatment and many more at risk.

A 'super-superbug' causing antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea (pictured) is running rampant through Australia with no effective treatment

The bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae (pictured) was by far the most common of 1,064 superbugs detected by a new national early warning system this year

Cases tripled in NSW and Western Australia, and the bug accounted for a massive third of all superbug cases recorded by the Critical Antimicrobial Resistance system.

Professor John Turnidge, senior medical advisor at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, said it may soon be completely untreatable.

'They're the bugs we can't afford to let get out of hand,' he wrote in CARAlert's first public report released on Wednesday.

'Not having antibiotics to treat these infections would be a nightmare. It means people will die that don't need to die.

'At the sharp end, you have patients who develop blood poisoning and septicaemia… these patients get desperately ill and end up in intensive care units,' he said.

Professor John Turnidge, senior medical advisor at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, said it may soon be completely untreatable

Cases tripled in NSW and Western Australia, and the bug accounted for a massive third of all superbug cases recorded by the Critical Antimicrobial Resistance system

WHAT IS A 'SUPER-SUPERBUG'? More than 1,000 'super-superbugs' detected by new early-warning system CARAlert

They are even more resistant to antibiotics than other superbugs and may soon have to treatment

Gonorrhoea strain most common with a third of cases

Number of cases tripled in NSW and Western Australia

Highly resistant to usual antibiotics used against it and might be useless soon

70 per cent of all superbugs found in NSW Victoria and Queensland

CARAlert gives weekly updates on new superbugs to doctors Advertisement

The antibiotic azithromycin, commonly used to treat gonorrhoea, was already close to useless, leaving patients to scrounge for old, unregistered drugs not used in decades.

Professor Turnidge said over-prescribing of antibiotics was causing bacteria to mutate into resistant strains, along with poor infection control in hospitals and nursing homes.

Seventy per cent of all superbug cases were from hospitals and care facilities with the rest popping up in people in the community.

'What's happening here is happening around the world. Superbugs are endemic in the community and in hospitals. We are no different to other countries alarmed by by the risks of the spread of gonorrhea,' Professor Turnidge said