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Two women who contracted a rare form of super-gonorrhoea picked up the STI while having unprotected sex in Ibiza.
A new study, published in Eurosurveillance, revealed the woman were part of the “same sexual network” and had both slept with other Brits on the Spanish party island.
The first woman, who visited her local clinic in October 2018 with symptoms of the infection, had slept with multiple men while on holiday in August that year.
The second woman visited a sexual health clinic a month later and testing revealed she also had the antibiotic-resistant strain of the STI after sleeping with a man who had recently visited the island.
Dr Nick Phin, Deputy Director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England, said: “Two women were treated for extensively drug resistant gonorrhoea in the autumn of 2018. These cases serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting yourself against sexually transmitted infections.
“This includes using condoms consistently and correctly with all new and casual sexual partners.
“Anyone with symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or who is concerned they may have an STI should seek advice from a sexual health clinic.
“It is also important to tell all sexual partners if you contract an STI, which your clinician can help with and can be done anonymously.
“We have introduced enhanced monitoring of gonorrhoea antimicrobial resistance to ensure all cases are identified promptly to help reduce further spread.
“While cases are currently very rare, we have alerted and encourage European public health agencies and sexual health clinicians to be aware that this gonorrhoea strain has the potential to spread in Europe.”
Last year, officials warned that a Briton had contracted the “world’s worst ever” case of super-gonorrhoea after the man had a sexual encounter with a woman in south-east Asia.
The NHS Confederation warned last year that Brexit could lead to a rapid rise in the spread of infectious diseases if the government does not work out a way of maintaining a close working relationship with European health bodies.