Sexually transmitted diarrhoea is on the rise and it's 'close to untreatable'

STIs are always something that you should be looking to avoid but the latest bout spreading sounds like one of the worst of all.

Anyone who had a hot girl summer in the UK might have regretted their decision earlier this year after gonorrhoea cases reached a historic high, while other sexually transmitted diseases can also be completely incurable.

Although we're living in an increasingly sex positive world and generation, we don't want to be positive when it comes to taking an STI test, especially with the often severe symptoms they can cause.

But the new sexually transmitted diarrhoea superbug that's spreading rapidly is certainly one that folks will want to steer clear of, considering other STIs can sometimes be symptomless or don't ever really present themselves.

Dysentery, an intestinal infection that causes inflammation and frequent diarrhoea containing blood or mucus, is on the rise and seemingly being spread through sex.

While we sometimes describe sex as 'doing the nasty', this would certainly be the case as it essentially involves going a little too close to the rear entrance when that person might have shigella bacteria, and the cases are evolving into something that is 'close to untreatable.'

A study in July showed that the spread of the disease through sex grew 15 per cent faster year-over-year between 2015 and 2020 compared to spread through travel, food, or nursery outbreaks.

Hopefully they've both douched (Getty Stock)

Cambridge geneticist Kate Baker, a lead author on the July study, said: “Many men who have sex with men are unaware of the serious and increasing risk posed by sexually transmitted Shigella.”

“This disease has gone from being relatively treatable with off-the-shelf drugs to being close to untreatable over the course of the last decade or so."

While you might hope that numbers in more recent years might have gone down, with some folks in general having less sex than ever due to various factors including the Coronavirus pandemic, the alarming amount of people on dating apps and also shocking role models in the manosphere distorting men's opinions of women, it seems as if those who are still having sex with a number of different people might need to add a new ick to the list.

If avoiding sex with anyone who's currently in the midst of regular bum wees wasn't already on your ick list, that is.

As few as 10 organisms of shigella are enough to make you sick, and the disease can spread easily if the person you're with isn't washing their hands as well as they should be, as the poopy particles can easily end up close to your mouth.

Those few minutes of satisfaction are probably not worth it (Getty Stock)

To make matters worse, Baker told Science Alert that 'this isn't just one form of sexually transmitted diarrhoea' and that there's actually 'multiple overlapping variants emerging that are all quickly becoming resistant to the drugs we use to treat them'.

She continued: "It’s highly likely that if you contracted your Shigella through sex, you require different treatment to someone who contracted it through travel.”

Anyone who's contracted shigella through sex is struggling with some serious symptoms, with people sometimes hospitalised for close to a week, but it's becoming harder to treat as the superbug becomes resistant to antibiotics.

So for now, maybe add 'looking for someone who has not had diarrhoea recently' to your prompts on Hinge, and make sure to wash all your bits and sex toys thoroughly before you get down and dirty, in a safe, hopefully non STI-spreading way.

The California Department of Public Health also adds: "Don’t have sex with someone who has had diarrhoea in the last two weeks.” Sound advice.