UK man contracts world-first super-gonorrhoea infection

A British man has contracted a strain of gonorrhoea so powerful that it has resisted the main antibiotic treatment for the first time in documented medical history.

The unnamed man contracted the sexually transmitted infection (STI) from a woman in south-east Asia.

The bacterial infection is typically treated with a combination of antibiotics azithromycin and ceftriaxone, but those have failed, Public Health England (PHE) announced.

"We are investigating a case who has gonorrhoea which was acquired abroad and is very resistant to the recommended first line treatment," PHE's Gwenda Hughes said.

"This is the first time a case has displayed such high-level resistance to both of these drugs and to most other commonly used antibiotics."

The case is a world-first, the World Health Organisation has confirmed.

The man's partner, who he did not contract the disease from, tested negative to the infection.

So far, no other cases of the gonorrhoea super-strain have been found.

Gonorrhoea symptoms include an unusual discharge from the genitals, pain while urinating and pain or tenderness in the lower abdominal region for women, or in the testicles for men.

The disease is spread through unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex.

Medical authorities are concerned that as antibiotics lose their impact on curing bacterial infections, gonorrhoea may become untreatable in the future.