Oral sex might be loads of fun and seemingly safer than the main practice, but it is most likely to help the spread of dangerous disease pathogens, WHO warns.
The increased incidence of this activity and the relatively quick decline in condom use is one of the main factors responsible for contracting diseases such as gonorrhoea.
And its becoming harder to treat because of the rapid development of the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics, with experts said the situation was “fairly grim” with few new drugs on the horizon.
With about 78 million people pick up the STI each year and its potential to cause infertility in severe cases, the data analysed by the World Health Organization from 77 countries indicates that gonorrhoea’s resistance to antibiotics was widespread.
Dr Teodora Wi, from the WHO, said there had even been three cases – in Japan, France and Spain – where the infection was completely untreatable, BBC News reports.
She said: “Gonorrhoea is a very smart bug, every time you introduce a new class of antibiotics to treat gonorrhoea, the bug becomes resistant.”
Worryingly, the vast majority of gonorrhoea infections are in poor countries where resistance is harder to detect.
“These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg,” she added.
Gonorrhoea often infect the genitals, rectum and throat, but it is the last that is most concerning health officials.
Dr Wi said antibiotics could lead to bacteria in the back of the throat, including relatives of gonorrhoea, developing resistance.
She said: “When you use antibiotics to treat infections like a normal sore throat, this mixes with the Neisseria species in your throat and this results in resistance.”
Thrusting gonorrhoea bacteria into this environment through oral sex can lead to super-gonorrhoea.”
“In the US, resistance [to an antibiotic] came from men having sex with men because of pharyngeal infection,” she added.
A decline in condom use, which had soared because of fears of HIV/Aids, is thought to help the infection spread.
Dr Manica Balasegaram, from the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, said: “The situation is fairly grim.
“There are only three drug candidates in the entire drug [development] pipeline and no guarantee any will make it out.”
But ultimately, the WHO said vaccines would be needed to stop gonorrhoea.