A vaccine for gonorrhea has been developed in New Zealand that cut infections by about a third, according to the BBC.
About 78 million people are infected with gonorrhea each year and it is becoming resistant to antibiotics. No matter how many times someone is infected with the disease, the body doesn’t build up resistance to it.
The vaccine was developed about 10 years ago to fight meningitis B. Among those vaccinated, cases of gonorrhea dropped by 31 percent. The bacteria that cause meningitis B and gonorrhea are closely related.
Resistance to the drug that treats gonorrhea increased by 300 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control.
In Dallas County, there were 4,968 cases of gonorrhea reported in the latest year statistics were available. Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease reported in Dallas.
The gonorrhea vaccine is not available yet in the U.S.