How 'Super Gonorrhea' Reportedly Spread This Year in Connection to COVID-19

A so-called "super" edition of gonorrhea, the sexually transmitted bacterial infection colloquially known as "the clap," is said to be having one hell of a 2020 thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, going any further with this story will require at least one mention of the Sun, but that's just the way the gonorrhea cookie crumbles on this otherwise mundane Monday.

As the New York Postpointed out earlier this month, a rep form the World Health Organization is said to have given comments to the tabloid regarding a "buildup of resistance" to the bacteria that causes gonorrhea. More specifically, Azithromycin—an antibiotic that was used earlier in the pandemic but has since been determined to have no pandemic-specify benefits—is claimed to have contributed to the current "super gonorrhea" problem.

The problem has apparently been worsened by health centers being overwhelmed during the pandemic, resulting in a diagnosis shortcoming that can further fuel gonorrhea-centered antibiotic resistance.

"The bottom line is, antibiotics should not be prescribed unless there's a clear medical indication for them," the WHO rep told the Sun, marking the Sun mention I previously warned you about earlier in this article.

The CDC, meanwhile, is also on the case. On the agency's Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea info page, the close monitoring of antibiotic resistance is strongly recommended.

"The emergence of cephalosporin-resistant gonorrhea would significantly complicate the ability of providers to treat gonorrhea successfully, since we have few antibiotic options left that are simple, well-studied, well-tolerated and highly effective," the CDC says.