Super-gonorrhoea is closer to New Zealand, now two cases of an antibiotic-resistant strain have been recorded in Australia.
File photo Photo: 123RF
Last month, it was reported a British man had contracted what was dubbed the world's 'worst ever' case of gonorrhoea, that he picked up in southeast Asia.
It was the first documented case of the sexually transmitted infection that could not be cured with a combination of standard antibiotics.
Now two similar cases have been reported in Queensland and Western Australia.
An Auckland University associate professor of infectious diseases, Mark Thomas, said it's not a question of if, but when, New Zealand gets its first case.
"It makes treatment more inconvenient but it doesn't make treatment impossible" - Mark Thomas
"It'll depend on more and more cases occurring in other parts of the world and them coming in contact sexually with people from New Zealand," he said.
Dr Thomas said the test for gonorrhoea does not determine if the usual treatment of an injection and two oral pills will work.
He said more resistant strains will require hospitals to administer the necessary antibiotics.