Fears of a gonorrhoea epidemic are on the rise in Australia amid a warning by global health experts the sexually-transmitted disease is becoming resistant to antibiotics. Gonorrhoea infections in Melbourne spiked by 45 per cent between 2015 and 2018, figures compiled by the Department of Health showed. The data also showed a 220 per cent increase in gonorrhoea infections among women during that period. In Queensland, the Mackay Hospital and Health Service region on the state's central coast recorded 893 gonorrhoea infections in 2020 - its highest total ever. Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria and affects the genitalia, rectum or throat.

Source: Daily Mail May 22, 2021 16:01 UTC