They also have the proper testing materials and incubators to grow gonorrhoea which GP's surgeries won't have.

BBC: Your comments

Tests on animals suggest that the substance may offer similar protection against other venereal diseases, including herpes, gonorrhoea and genital warts.

ECONOMIST: HIV microbicides

In addition, diagnoses of other sexually transmitted infections, notably gonorrhoea and syphilis, are rising - suggesting more people are having unsafe sex.

BBC: Record number of UK HIV cases

Although gonorrhoea has been steadily declining in America since 1975, it is especially prevalent in southern and mid-Atlantic states, particularly among blacks.

ECONOMIST: The invisible worm

STDs in America including syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia than in other western countries.

ECONOMIST: The invisible worm

In that year 23, 000 British soldiers were hospitalised for treatment and the French government reported over a million cases of syphilis or gonorrhoea since the start of the war.

BBC: The fight against STIs

Black gonorrhoea rates are almost seven times higher than among Americans as a whole, partly because blacks have less access to health services and partly because of the spread of prostitution in exchange for crack cocaine.

ECONOMIST: The invisible worm