THOUSANDS of people in Swindon could be carrying a new sexually transmitted ‘superbug’ which can leave women infertile.

Mycoplasma genitalium, known as MG, affects between 1 and 2 per cent of the population, according to the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH).

Data from Public Health England shows that 773 people in Swindon were diagnosed with chlamydia last year alone, which accounts for just 0.4 per cent of the adults in the area, meaning many cases of MG or chlamydia are likely to be undiagnosed.

New guidelines to tackle MG were recently published the BASHH to highlight the need for more testing to prevent MG becoming a superbug.

BASHH spokesperson Paddy Horner, who developed the guidelines, said “MG is treated with antibiotics, but as until recently there has been no commercially available test, it has often been misdiagnosed as Chlamydia and treated as such. This is not curing the infection and is causing antimicrobial resistance in MG patients.

"If practices do not change and the tests are not used, MG has the potential to become a superbug within a decade, resistant to standard antibiotics.

The greatest consequence of this is for the women who present with pelvic inflammatory disorder caused by MG, which would be very hard to treat, putting them at increased risk of infertility.”

A survey by BASHH also revealed that only one in ten UK health commissioners were planning on making provisions for testing equipment in their 2019 budgets.