The gift that keeps on giving: Untreatable VD

Valentine’s Day is here, love is in the air and untreatable gonorrhea isn’t far behind, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control.

It would be wrong to assume either of these people has gonorrhea. (AP Photo)

USnews.com reports gonorrhea, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, is rapidly overcoming even the latest, strongest antibiotics.

Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s sexually transmitted disease prevention program, delivers the bad news in The New England Journal of Medicine:  ”The wily gonococcus has become less susceptible to our last line of antimicrobial defense, threatening our ability to cure gonorrhea.”

How quickly is “the clap” bacterium becoming unkillable? About 1.7 percent of gonorrhea is now resistant to cephalosporins, the wonder drug du jour. In 2006, only 0.1 percent was resistant. I wish my 401(k) grew like a vengeful diplococci bacteria.

There’s no miracle cure in the offing.

“I’m not aware of any new drugs in the pipeline,” says Nicole Mahoney, senior officer of the antibiotics and innovation project at PEW Charitable Trusts. “This is just one more example of a bigger problem—bacteria are developing resistance faster than we’re inventing new medicines to fight them.”

Here’s some more interesting facts to ponder:

• 3.6 percent of gonorrhea is drug-resistant in the Western U.S.
• In men who have sex with men, the bacterium is even more resistant — 5 percent.
• Gonorrhea affects 600,000 Americans annually, and for those who don’t remember Health 101, gonorrhea is famed for causing a burning sensation while urinating, abdominal pain, itching, and genital discharge.

Hrrrrmmm … instead of candy, maybe boxes of condoms are more appropriate this V-Day?