Scientists are researching mouthwash as a surprising cure for this common STD
Earlier this summer, medical researchers found evidence that gonorrhea was becoming resistant to the drugs that typically cure it — resulting in concerns that the increasingly diagnosed sexually transmitted disease may soon be untreatable.
But scientists may have discovered a surprising new oral gonorrhea cure that you probably already have on your bathroom counter: mouthwash.
Professor Christopher Fairley from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia is currently working with 58 men who test positive for oral gonorrhea. The men are given either mouthwash or salt water rinses, and then Professor Fairley tests for detectable levels of the STD in the men’s throats.
When the patients used mouthwash, Professor Fairley found it had reduced the levels of gonorrhea.
Professor Fairley explains that a lot more testing is necessary to confirm these results, as well as to find out how long the gonorrhea levels stay reduced — and if they can be eliminated from the body completely. But considering how bleak things looked for gonorrhea treatment just a little while ago, this is a very important development.
Plus, as TeenVogue notes, condoms, when used correctly, can successfully prevent gonorrhea transmission, but a lot of folks don’t use condoms when performing oral sex — just another reason why a new cure for oral gonorrhea is so important.
