An unusually high number of Mainers have been diagnosed this
year with gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease that’s grown
stubbornly resistant to treatment. Through Oct. 31, Maine
recorded 370 cases of gonorrhea, according to the Maine Center
for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a jump from 272 cases
in all of last year and nearly four times the number of cases in
2008. The incidence of gonorrhea has steadily risen in Maine
over the last four years. It’s a troubling trend, coinciding
with an ever-shrinking arsenal of drugs at doctors’ disposal to
treat the increasingly drug-resistant disease. Today, just one
remaining antibiotic is reliably effective against the
infection. Meanwhile, a “superbug” strain of gonorrhea that’s
becoming untreatable has spread across Europe. One of the most
common infectious diseases, gonorrhea is sounding public health
alarms globally. In 2012, most of the cases in Maine have arisen
among those ages 20-29 in Cumberland, Androscoggin and York
counties, particularly women,