According to the CDC, close to a quarter of strains of gonorrhea in America were resistant to penicillin and other commonly used antibiotics in 2009. In 2010, some strains were also resistant to all drugs doctors have to treat the clap. Will a great clap plague kill us all? Here's the New York Daily News' summary of the "catastrophic" possibilities:

The US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who issued the 2009 data last month, notes that if left untreated, gonorrhea could spread to the blood or joints, and could even be life-threatening. People with gonorrhea typically show no symptoms, although it can lead to complications, such as infertility and in women, chronic pelvic pain, and in men, a painful testicular condition known as epididymitis.

So basically, yes, but slowly and painfully and starting with the testicles. (I hear that's how dominatrixes do it, too.) Let's just commit species-wide seppuku and get this shit over with already, okay? [NYDN, image via Shutterstock]