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Gonorrhea may soon become untreatable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the wily Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria may be developing resistance to the only two antibiotics left that can cure the sexually transmitted disease. The drugs, azithromycin and ceftriaxone, are used in combination to treat gonorrhea, a strategy experts hope will prolong the period during which these critical drugs will work. (Branswell, 7/14)

Warm waters and one case of a potentially deadly flesh destroying bacteria in Brevard County have prompted Florida health officials to urge the public to avoid exposure to the rare bacterial infection. Brevard's warning came two days after state health officials in Volusia County similarly urged residents and tourists to take precautions to prevent exposure to Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially deadly saltwater bacteria that has killed four people so far this year in Florida. (Waymer, 7/15)

But despite how commonplace rats are in cities around the world, they remain in many ways mysterious, including in the potential threat they pose to public health, experts say. ... Rats — and rodents more broadly — aren’t responsible for nearly as many disease cases or deaths as, say, mosquitoes. But they can transmit fevers, a type of meningitis, and, yes, plague. The diseases are spread through bites and scratches, pathogens in the animals’ feces and urine, and via fleas. (Joseph, 7/14)