Please be informed.

The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea may be becoming resistant to the only two antibiotics left to treat it. The disheartening news comes from a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which yesterday reported that the STD’s resistance rates have increased in 2014.

"Only two antibiotics are left to treat gonorrhea"

Gonorrhea is currently being treated using a combination of two drugs, azithromycin and ceftriaxone. The two antibiotics are used together to slow down the STD’s resistance to the drugs, but national surveillance data shows that the drugs are losing their efficacy.

The percentage of Neisseria gonorrhoeae samples that were resistant to azithromycin rose to 2.5 percent from 0.6 percent, while those resistant to ceftriaxone rose to 0.8 percent from 0.4 percent. These percentage increases don’t seem high, but they’re worrisome to scientists. Even with the drug combination therapy recommended by the CDC, the bacteria are slowly becoming resistant.

"The potential for untreatable gonorrhea is a very real possibility in the future," Robert Kirkcaldy, the report co-author, told STAT.

""The potential for untreatable gonorrhea is a very real possibility in the future." "

Gonorrhea is the second-most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States, with 350,062 reported cases in 2014, according to the CDC. If untreated, gonorrhea can cause permanent health problems, like infertility and long-term abdominal pain in women. Pregnant women who are infected can pass on gonorrhea to the baby during birth, causing serious health effects like eye infections. At times, if the STD spreads to the blood or joints, it can be fatal.

Scientists can’t predict how long it may take gonorrhea to become completely resistant to all antibiotics. In the meantime, before a new antibiotic is developed, people should take precautionary steps — like using condoms — to avoid becoming infected in the first place.

"Continued surveillance, appropriate treatment, development of new antibiotics, and prevention of transmission remain the best strategies to reduce gonorrhea incidence and morbidity," the CDC report concludes.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/15/12201096/gonorrhea-untreatable-std-antibiotics-resistant



'Super-gonorrhoea' is spreading across Britain and will become untreatable, doctors fear

n outbreak of highly drug-resistant "super-gonorrhoea" is sweeping across Britain and could become untreatable, medics fear.

A national alert was triggered by Public Health England last September after the rare strain of the sexually transmitted superbug was detected in 15 people.

The number of confirmed cases has now risen to 34 and, according to reports, there is "huge concern" among doctors that it is spreading across the UK. And experts said it is at risk of becoming untreatable if the only fully effective antibiotic remaining fails.

There have been efforts to track down the sexual partners of those infected with the disease, which can cause infertility.
“Failure to respond appropriately will jeopardise our ability to treat gonorrhoea effectively and will lead to poorer health outcomes for individuals and society as a whole”
Dr Elizabeth Carlin

However, Public Health England (PHE) is understood to have acknowledged that efforts to contain the spread have been of "limited success".

The alert comes after Chancellor George Osborne warned resistance to antibiotics will become "an even greater threat to mankind than cancer" without global action.

PHE said an increase in cases of super-gonorrhoea was a "further sign of the very real threat of antibiotic resistance to our ability to treat infections".

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV issued an alert to clinicians urging them to follow up cases of high level drug resistant gonorrhoea and trace their sexual partners.

Its president, Dr Elizabeth Carlin, told the BBC: "The spread of high level azithromycin-resistant gonorrhoea is a huge concern and it is essential that every effort is made to contain further spread.

"Failure to respond appropriately will jeopardise our ability to treat gonorrhoea effectively and will lead to poorer health outcomes for individuals and society as a whole."

Last September, the outbreak of highly drug-resistant gonorrhoea was detected in the north of England, triggering a national alert.

The outbreak, which was first detected in Leeds in March, had spread - with cases reported in patients from Macclesfield, Oldham and Scunthorpe.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/17/super-gonorrhoea-is-spreading-across-britain-and-will-become-unt/