New STD superbug may be deadlier than AIDS; kills in a matter of days

 There is a new sexually transmitted superbug that experts say may be more deadly that AIDS.

According to a report, an antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea is more aggressive than AIDS, which means the potential to infect the public will be exponentially greater.

Like most STDs, gonorrhea is transmitted through unprotected sexual contact and if left untreated, can cause a myriad of medical complications, such as infertility in women, debilitating pain and sterility in men and life threatening heart infections.

Alan Christianson, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, thinks this new deadly STD has the power to kill more than the 30 million people who have already died from AIDS-related causes worldwide, which would be catastrophic.

"Getting gonorrhea from this strain might put someone into septic shock and death in a matter of days," said Christianson. "This is very dangerous."

William Smith, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, echoed that sentiment.

“It’s an emergency situation. As time moves on, it’s getting more hazardous,” said Smith.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, though no cases of the superbug officially called H041 were found in the US so far, steps must be taken to deal with the potential risks.

Gonorrhea can go undetected in affected people, showing no outward symptoms in about half of women and in 5 percent of men, which adds another level of difficulty in getting ahead of the disease.

This strain of STD which is resistant to the current antibiotic available to combat gonorrhea, reportedly kills half of those exposed and infects one in 20 hospital patients—which raises the treat of an outbreak to emergency levels.

Then there is the high cost of combating sexually transmitted diseases, which the CDC tallies at around $16 billion to treat about 20 million cases annually. Of that 20 million, a reported 800,000 are gonorrhea cases among 15- to 24-year-old.

Even more alarming, some doctors believe the STD war is too costly to win.  AllVoices