A woman died in Anchorage from an untreated case of gonorrhea this spring, as state health officials urge Alaskans to seek testing amid high rates of the sexually transmitted infection.
The case was publicly reported in a state epidemiology bulletin posted Monday. According to the bulletin, the woman was in her 50s when she arrived at a local emergency room suffering from respiratory distress. She was initially diagnosed with septic shock and heart failure. Further testing revealed that she had a disseminated gonococcal infection, or DGI. She later died, according to the bulletin.
Health officials say the infection is what killed her. It’s a severe complication that can arise when gonorrhea is left untreated and spreads through the body. According to the bulletin, the woman had visited two health care providers for unrelated treatment in the six months before her death. There were no records of her being tested for gonorrhea in the past year…