The UK government has pledged £5 million for the development of new tools for the diagnosis of “super gonorrhoea” as part of a renewed push to combat the rising tide of superbugs around the world. Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, has announced an extra £11.5 million to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), nearly half of which will go on the development of a rapid, point-of-care test for drug-resistant gonorrhoea. Dame Sally said that AMR threatened "the future of modern medicine" and that gonorrhoea in particular was becoming increasingly difficult to treat. "With around 44,000 diagnoses of gonorrhoea in England last year alone, this is a huge public health concern, particularly as we are running out of effective antibiotics to treat it. It is therefore vital that cases of gonorrhoea are prevented, identified and managed as soon as possible, so I am pleased to see that the UK government has committed specific funding to help tackle the problem," she said. “Super gonorrhoea" is spiraling out of control around the world and earlier this year the world’s “worst ever” case was diagnosed in a man from the East Midlands who picked up the bug while on holiday in South East Asia. Two standard antibiotics failed to cure his infection and he had to have a three-day intravenous infusion of the antibiotic ertapenem.
The UK government will put £5m ($6.4m) towards advancing diagnostic procedures for "super gonorrhoea". The drug-resistant strain of the sexually-transmitted disease is becoming increasingly difficult to treat; with nearly half incidences being treated last year in England alone, early identification of the disease is crucial. The latest funding will go towards the non-profit Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics in order to develop a quick and easy test ready to use by 2025 that can reduce the over-prescription of new antibiotics, which is fueling the antimicrobial resistance of gonorrhoea strains.