Fri 4 Jul 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Gay and bisexual men are being urged to be vigilant following an alert from Australian health authorities about a new multi-drug resistant gonorrhoea strain. The New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) says evidence suggests that gay and bisexual men have significantly higher rates of gonorrhoea than heterosexuals and are therefore at greater risk. Shaun Robinson recommends regular testing “This is another important reason to ‘love your condom’, to protect each other from this strain of gonorrhoea and from other STIs,” Executive Director Shaun Robinson says. “We also recommend regularly getting tested for gonorrhoea, HIV and other STIs at any of NZAF’s centres, the nearest sexual health service to you or your GP. Those who have recently visited Australia should definitely test.” The NZAF says the new strain has key similarities to a rare strain observed before in a case in Asia. Initial investigations of the diagnosis indicate the Australian patient was a young female traveller from Central Europe, who contracted the infection in Sydney and travelled through the Northern Territory to Cairns where she was treated. The alert to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health comes on the back of the cluster of cases of treatment resistant gonorrhoea that were found amongst gay and bisexual men in New Zealand in 2012. The NZAF says it’s further evidence that treatment resistance is becoming more of a risk for gonorrhoea.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 4th July 2014 - 12:21pm