Given most of us engage in ~casuale~ sex from time to time, it’s understandable that (while we are being careful and using condoms, RIGHT? RIGHT, GUYS??) we’re also constantly worried about our dicks / vaginas falling off. I’m talking about STIs.
STIs are a serious business – hence what I said about using goddamn condoms if you’re sleeping with someone and either of you hasn’t been tested. They’re easily transmittable, some can’t be eradicated, and others are pretty much symptomless, which is why you should *also* be getting regular STI checks, OK? Don’t be that guy/girl. End TED talk.
ANYWAY! In fantastic news for us single-ready-to-mingle folk (not) there’s a brand new STI roaming the sexual landscape, and it’s a doozy. Meet Mycoplasma Genitalium. It sounds like a bad bitch, and it is a bad bitch.
See, the issue with Mycoplasma Genitalium is that it’s one of those symptomless little fuckers. Like Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea, it’s often hard to know you have it floating around in your bits unless you get tested for it.
There are some symptoms that do occasionally pop up – in women, it’s a burning sensation when weeing, and bleeding during or after sex. For men, it’s a watery discharge. However, these symptoms are common ones for other issues like UTI’s and so on, hence the reason this bug is a bit of a shithead.
First discovered in the 80’s, it can be treated with antibiotics – however, there are new concerns that the STI might become resistant to standard anti-b’s and turn superbug on us.
“This is not curing the infection and is causing antimicrobial resistance in MG patients,” Dr. Paddy Horner told the Telegraph. “If practices do not change and the tests are not used, MG has the potential to become a superbug within a decade, resistant to standard antibiotics.”
CAN YOU NOT? Honestly.
A report from The Age says the STI is thought to affect around 400,000 Aussies, with Associate Professor Catriona Bradshaw from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre adding that the highest prevalence is among people in their 20s.
The good news? There’s a new Mycoplasma genitalium test involving a urine test or a swab of the genital area, like the kind done for chlamydia. If you’re concerned, have a chat to your GP or a Sexual Health Clinic.
