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The Sun
04-07-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Woman died after ‘rampant STI' invaded her body and attacked her vital organs – 4 signs you must know
A WOMAN died after an untreated STI invaded her body and attacked her vital organs. The unnamed woman from Alaska, who was in her 50s, passed away from disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI). 1 This is a rare but serious complication of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea. It occurs when Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria spreads from the initial site of infection, seeping into the bloodstream and vital organs. DGI is thought to occur in just 0.5 percent of all gonorrhoea cases. The woman arrived at her local emergency department in Anchorage, Alaska, in spring this year, already in a critical condition. She was in respiratory distress - when the lungs aren't working properly due to serious illness - and was diagnosed with septic shock and heart failure, caused by endocarditis, a potentially fatal infection of the heart's inner lining. Further testing revealed her body had been invaded by gonorrhoea bacteria. But the patient wasn't diagnosed with DGI until after she'd passed away. There were no records of her being tested for gonorrhoea prior to her presenting at the emergency department. She'd been treated twice in the prior six months for opioid abuse, according to the Alaska Department of Health. Eight cases of DGI were reported in Alaska between January and May 2025, report authors added. How to put a condom on - NHS The cases were spotted after patients were evaluated in emergency departments in Anchorage. Epidemiologic investigations didn't establish connections between any of the DGI cases. While gonorrhoea can be got rid of with antibiotics, some infected people may not get tested or treated as they don't have symptoms of the STI, according to Dr Liz Ohlsen, a staff physician with the Alaska Department of Health who wrote the report. As a result, they run the risk of developing dangerous DGI, she told the Alaska Beacon. Health officials fear that a strain less likely to cause symptoms is circulating in Alaska, Dr Ohlsen went on. 'We think the most likely explanation for the rise in DGI cases is that more people with gonorrhoea are not getting tested and treated in a timely manner," she said. "Asymptomatic infections are thought to pose a greater risk of persistent untreated infection because people are less likely to have sought care." The Alaska Department of Health bulletin warned that people in Anchorage with a new sexual partner, more than one sexual partner, or a partner with multiple partners might be at risk of acquiring a strain of N. gonorrhoeae that's thought to carry a higher risk of causing DGI. Symptoms of gonorrhoea Typical symptoms of gonorrhoea include: A thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis Pain when urinating Pain and discomfort in the rectum Lower abdominal pain and bleeding between periods in women and other people with a uterus or ovaries Gonorrhoea can affect other parts of your body that come into contact with semen or vaginal fluid. This can cause: Pain, itching and discharge from your bottom A sore throat Eye redness, pain and discharge However, many people infected with gonorrhoea will have no symptoms, especially for infections in the throat, vagina or rectum. This lack of symptoms makes it important to test regularly when having sex with new or casual partners. If you do get symptoms, they usually start around two weeks after infection, although they sometimes do not appear until many months later. Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to serious health complications including: Infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) An infection of the female reproductive system, which includes the womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries An infection in the testicles or prostate In rare cases, gonorrhoea bacteria can cause a disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI). It can cause frequently results in purple or pus-filled spots on the skin, joint pain, inflamed tendons or septic joint infections. Rarely, DGI can lead to inflammation of the liver, endocarditis - an infection of the inner heart lining - and meningitis. Having gonorrhoea during pregnancy can increase your risk of premature birth and your baby having a low birth weight. There's also a risk the infection could spread to your baby's eyes during birth, which is called gonococcal conjunctivitis. This can cause blindness if it's not treated with antibiotics. "While no specific sexual network has been identified, this strain may be circulating more broadly among persons with gonorrhea infection in Southcentral Alaska," report authors said. "The absence of documented gonorrhoea risk factors in most DGI cases suggests patients may not be asked about or disclosing key sexual history. "Few had symptoms before presenting with DGI, consistent with its progression from untreated mucosal infections. "Asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with GC are less likely to seek health care and may be at a higher risk of persistent untreated infection leading to disseminated infection." In the UK, health officials issued warnings earlier this year over cases of "extensively drug resistant" gonorrhoea that aren't responding to antibiotic treatment. While most gonorrhoea infections can be treated effectively, certain resistant strains "present significant treatment challenges", the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. It warned that increased resistance could one day make the STI 'untreatable'. Meanwhile, the NHS announced it would begin vaccinating people against gonorrhoea come August, after cases of the STI hit a record 85,000 in 2023. Local sexual health clinics will offer the jab to gay and bisexual men, who are most at risk. Patients will receive the 4CMenB vaccine for meningitis B, which has been found to nearly halve the chances of catching gonorrhoea in adults. Health chiefs reckon they can prevent around 10,000 cases per year.
Gizmodo
03-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Alaskan Woman's Death From Gonorrhea Sparks Fears of a New Strain
A well-known sexually transmitted infection might be causing more trouble than usual in Alaska. Local health officials this week have reported the death of a woman in her 50s from a rare complication of gonorrhea that's becoming increasingly more common in the state. On Monday, the Alaska Department of Health detailed the tragic death in its latest epidemiology bulletin. The woman died from an untreated gonorrhea infection that had spread widely throughout her body. Health officials are worried that novel strains of the bacteria may be behind a spike of similar cases reported in the area over the past three years. Gonorrhea is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and it's one of the most commonly reported STIs worldwide. In 2023, there were over 600,000 documented cases of gonorrhea in the U.S. alone. Common symptoms include puke-colored genital discharge and bloody urination, as well as swollen testicles in men and bleeding between periods for women. One reason why gonorrhea is dangerous, however, is that it often doesn't cause symptoms at all. And when it goes unnoticed and untreated, it can potentially trigger infertility and raise the risk of catching other STIs. If it's passed down from mother to child in the womb, the infection can also cause severe complications like blindness in the newborn. The Rise of Super Gonorrhea Seldomly, the bacteria migrate away from where they normally infect us (the genitals and sometimes the throat) to other parts of the body. This complication is called a disseminated gonococcal infection, or DGI. DGIs can cause varying health problems, depending on where the bacteria end up, such as arthritis or skin lesions. On very rare occasions, the infection can turn lethal if it reaches vital areas like the heart or bloodstream. In this particular case, the woman visited a local emergency room in Anchorage earlier this spring with symptoms of respiratory distress. She was diagnosed with septic shock and heart failure caused by endocarditis (an inflammation of the inner lining of our heart's valves and chambers). Tests confirmed the widespread presence of gonorrhea bacteria in her body and bloodstream. Soon after, she succumbed to her infection. While DGI is rare, and deaths from it even rarer, something strange appears to be happening in Alaska as of late. Since 2023, there's been a marked increase in reported DGI cases. In 2024, there were 24 documented cases—three times higher than the tally reported in 2023 (eight cases) and ten times higher than 2022 (two cases). So far in 2025, there have been eight reported cases of DGI, still well above the typical average in Alaska and the U.S. as a whole. In many of these cases, including the latest one, people experienced no or few symptoms of their gonorrhea prior to their DGI. They also often had no clear risk factors for an STI and sometimes even tested negative on standard urine and genital swab tests for gonorrhea. Though officials haven't identified a specific link or chain of transmission between these cases, they suspect that emerging strains of gonorrhea could be causing the local rise in DGI. These strains might be more likely to cause DGI in general, or they might be less likely to cause initial symptoms, allowing infections to go untreated at a higher rate than typical. Though there are still many questions to be answered, health officials are warning residents to be especially proactive about their sexual health. 'People in the Anchorage area with a new sexual partner, more than one sexual partner, or a partner with multiple partners might be at risk of acquiring a strain of N. gonorrhoeae thought to carry a higher risk of causing DGI,' the health department stated in its bulletin. Officials are recommending that people with these risk factors get regularly tested for gonorrhea every three to six months. Super Gonorrhea May Have Met Its Nemesis This isn't the only recent new trick that gonorrhea has gotten up its sleeve. Other strains of the bacteria have increasingly evolved resistance to the last remaining frontline drugs available against it. These cases of super gonorrhea, while still rare, are spreading as well. Just last month, researchers reported the first such case discovered in Canada.
