London, July 12: Scientists have discovered a superbug strain of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea which is resistant to all known forms of antibiotics, and warn that it could soon become a global health threat unless better treatments are developed.

Although only one case has been confirmed, experts fear many more may have gone unreported.

Until now gonorrhoea has been very easy to treat with antibiotics called cephalosporins. Patients usually need only a single pill or jab.

Magnus Unemo, of the Research Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria in Orebro, described it as an alarming discovery.

"Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhoea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it," he said.

The new strain of the sexually transmitted disease called H041 - was found in Japan and leaves doctors with no other option than to try untested medicines to combat it.

If left untreated it can cause infertility in women and men and can be life threatening if it spreads to the blood and joints.

Some 16,700 Britons are infected with gonorrhoea every year and it is one of the most common STIs after chlamydia.

The 16-24 age group accounts for almost half of all cases.

One of the problems with gonorrhoea is that its symptoms take time to become apparent.

Around half of women and one in ten men will not be aware they have the disease for several months. (ANI)