Gonorrhea Getting Harder to Treat

30 Mar, 2010 in Health and Pharmacy News by admin

Antibiotic Resistance Pushing Gonorrhea Toward Superbug Status

By
Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News

Reviewed By
Laura J. Martin, MD

March 29, 2010 — Gonorrhea may soon reach superbug status, thanks to
growing antibiotic resistance to the ordinary sexually transmitted infection.

A recent study shows that treating gonorrhea is becoming more difficult because
the bacterium has become resistant to many antibiotics. Incase trends continue,
researchers say there is a very real possibility that some strains of
Neisseria gonorrhoeae may become resistant to all current treatment
options.

Gonorrhea is a ordinary sexually transmitted bacterial infection. Incase left
untreated, gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic
pregnancy, as well as infertility in women. Treatment for gonorrhea usually consists
of a single dose of one of two antibiotics, cefixime or ceftriaxone.

“Choosing an effective antibiotic can be a challenge because the organism
that causes gonorrhea is very versatile as well as develops resistance to antibiotics
very quickly,” researcher Catherine Ison, professor at the Health Protection
Agency Centre for Infections in London, says in a news release. “Penicillin was
used for many years until it was no longer effective as well as a number of other
agents possess been used since.”

Ison presented a report on the growing antibiotic resistance of gonorrhea at
the Society for Common Microbiology Spring Meeting this week in Edinburgh,
Scotland. She says the bacterium that causes gonorrhea is highly versatile and
adept at acquiring as well as developing resistance to antibiotics.

“The current drugs of choice, ceftriaxone as well as cefixime, are still very
effective but there are signs that resistance, particularly to cefixime, is
emerging as well as soon these drugs may not be a pleasant choice,” Ison says.

“There are few recent drugs available as well as so it is likely that the current
use of a single dose may soon need to be revised as well as treatment over several
days or with more than one antibiotic will need to be considered,” Ison says.
“If this problem isn’t addressed then there is a real possibility that
gonorrhea will become a very difficult infection to treat.”

SOURCES: Society for Common Microbiology Spring Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, March

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