The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea are on the rise, and about 78 million people per year could be at risk for the sexually-transmitted disease (STD). [1]
In a recent report, the WHO explains how researchers looked at data from gonorrhea cases and antibiotic resistance from 77 countries. Of those countries:
Hawaii is now home to a string of drug-resistant gonorrhea cases, which further signal a coming-age in which sexually transmitted diseases (as well as others) are no longer treatable with current medicine.
Seven patients with this strain were finally treated with the 2-drug combination of ceftriaxone and azithromycin, with lab resulting confirming that the bug was very resistant to azithromycin and was gaining resistance against ceftriaxone. This is yet another example of how last-resort drugs were shown to be ineffective in the fight against gonorrhea.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines for treating gonorrhea that reflect the looming threat posed by antibiotic resistance.
Under the U.N. health agency’s new directives, gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), should no longer be treated with a class of antibiotics called quinolones, because quinolone-resistant strains of the disease have emerged all over the world. [1]
Gonorrhea has long been a sexually transmitted disease that is treated with a strong dose of antibiotics. However, it may soon become untreatable as it develops resistance to the two antibiotics left that can treat it: azithromycin and ceftriaxon.
CBS News reports that antibiotic resistant strains of this STD have more than quadrupled in the United States.
Sixteen cases of a drug-resistant strain of “super-gonorrhea” have been reported in England, which the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV says used to be quite rare.
