WHO Reveals Gonorese Sexual Infection Is Increasingly Resistant To Drugs

Illustration of injections (istockphoto)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that gonore is becoming more resistant to antibiotics. Gonoros are sexually transmitted infections caused by the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria, which attack early childhood, rectum, throat, and eye tools.

The fact that the disease is increasingly resistant to drugs is obtained through new data from the Enhanced Gonokokus Antimicrobial Supervision Program (EGASP), which monitors the spread of gonore.

"This global effort is critical to tracking, preventing, and responding to drug-resistant gonores and to protect public health around the world," said WHO Department Director for HIV, TB, Hepatitis & IMS, Tereza Kasaeva, quoted from the WHO's official website, Monday, November 24, 2025.

Between 2022 and 2024, resistance to ceftriaxone and cefixime, the main antibiotics used to treat gonore, increased sharply. From 0.8 percent to 5 percent, and from 1.7 percent to 11 percent each, with resistance strains detected in more countries.

Resistant to azithromycin remains stable at 4 percent, while resistance to cyprofloksine reaches 95 percent. Cambodia and Vietnam reported the highest resistance rate.

More than half of all cases of gonore symptoms in men (52 percent) were reported from countries in the Western Pacific Region of WHO. Including the Philippines (28 percent), Vietnam (12 percent), Cambodia (9 percent), and Indonesia (3 percent).

Countries in the African Region of WHO account for 28 percent of cases, followed by countries in the Southeast Asia Region (13 percent of Thailand), Eastern Mediterranean Region (4 percent of Qatar), and America (2 percent of Brazil).

The average patient age is 27 years. Among the cases, 20 percent were men who had sex with men, and 42 percent reported several sexual partners in the last 30 days.

"WHO asks all countries to cope with increasing the rate of sexually transmitted infections (IMS) and integrating Gonore surveillance into the national IMS program," concluded Tereza.