Penicillin was a miracle, but eventually doctors had to use more and more to kill the bug. Just as defeating Hitler and the Japanese emperor had become an all-consuming national priority, health officials, armed with the new miracle drug penicillin, offered hope that the scourge of “VD” could be wiped out, too. In New York City, Los Angeles, and points in between, posters appeared stating “Penicillin Cures Gonorrhea in 4 Hours,” sometimes underneath words urging citizens to buy war bonds to “Thrash the Axis.” In the 1930s, sulfa-based drugs worked, but soon lost potency as the bacteria adapted. Gonorrhea has a long history of evading medicine’s attempts to cure it. “And rarely you can get gonorrheal infections of heart valves, and arthritis.” “The other major cost is infection of children born to infected mothers,” Hook explained. People infected with gonorrhea are also about three times more likely to become infected with HIV should they come into contact with the virus. If they aren’t cured, they risk pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility or ectopic pregnancies. For example, teenage girls between 15 and 19 account for more cases than any other age group. Undiagnosed cases, or infections that are unsuccessfully treated and then linger without obvious symptoms, can create serious health problems. Not all of those who are infected know it, contributing to the problem. Hook, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an expert on STD infections. “We will probably have something like 700,000 cases of gonorrhea this year,” suggested Dr. In 2008, there were 336,742 official cases, but this number, the most recent available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may vastly underestimate the true number. Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States. "If this problem isn't addressed, there's a very real possibility that gonorrhea will become a very difficult infection to treat," she said.
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