Oral sex is producing dangerous gonorrhoea and a reduction in condom use is spreading the disease, the World Health Organization has said.
It said the sexually transmitted infection is now harder to treat, and sometimes even not possible.
Gonorrhoea's resistance to antibiotics has also been showed to be widespread, after the WHO analysed data from 77 countries.
The World Health Organization has, therefore, asked countries to monitor the spread of resistant gonorrhoea and to invest in new drugs.
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Dr Manica Balasegaram, from the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, said: "The situation is fairly grim.
"There are only three drug candidates in the entire drug [development] pipeline and no guarantee any will make it out."
The WHO, however, indicated that vaccines would be needed to stop gonorrhoea.
Prof Richard Stabler, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "Ever since the introduction of penicillin, hailed as a reliable and quick cure, gonorrhoea has developed resistance to all therapeutic antibiotics.
"In the past 15 years therapy has had to change three times following increasing rates of resistance worldwide.
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"We are now at a point where we are using the drugs of last resort, but there are worrying signs as treatment failure due to resistant strains has been documented."
What is Gonorrhoea?
The disease is caused by a bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Neisseria gonococcus. The bacteria can infect the cervix (entrance to the womb), the urethra (the tube through which urine passes out of the body), the rectum, and less commonly the throat or eyes.
Symptoms can include a thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain when urinating and bleeding between periods.
Gonorrhoea can easily be passed between people through unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex