How to avoid getting gonorrhoea this Freshers’ Week

Forget worrying about making friends, a strain of highly drug-resistant gonorrhoea is on the loose.

The STI, which has become resistant to antibiotics, is spreading like wild fire in Leeds, where there are already 15 confirmed cases.

Now worried experts are warning the disease could reach the south – just in time for Freshers’ Week.

The near untreatable strain – which can cause meningitis is left untreated – affected 35,000 people last year in England, and one in 10 men and around half of women don’t experience any symptoms at all.

Gonorrhoea can be contracted through unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex and symptoms include pain when urinating, increased vaginal discharge and bleeding between periods for women and a white, yellow or green discharge and painful or swollen testicles for men.

Symptoms can take two weeks to develop, and some people don’t get any symptoms at all.

A local doctor  – who wished to remain anonymous – told The Tab: “The NHS treat gonorrhoea with two drugs – one is an injection and the other a tablet.

“It appears with this strand of gonorrhoea patients are immune to the tablet, and so the treatment is ineffective.

“It’s important to try to avoid the STI through practising safe sex for your own health: sometimes people don’t show symptoms or generally aren’t aware of them, and this could lead to further serious health problems including infertility.

“It’s important this type of gonorrhoea doesn’t spread further for the health of the individual but also we don’t want this to become a national problem and a national worry.”

So how can you stay clear of gonorrhoea this Fresher’s Week?

They added: “Even though this disease is perhaps more ‘worrying’, it’s really just like any other STI when it comes to preventing it.

“Avoid unprotected sex, particularly with new partners. Check ups are always a good idea and free of charge at clinics.

“Of course no one wants this strand of gonorrhoea, but you really don’t want any other STI either.”

You can find your nearest sexual health clinic if you want to get tested here.