Researchers are issuing more dire warnings about the growing threat of multi-drug-resistant gonorrhea in the US, according to a new paper published February 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
According to the article, gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported communicable disease in the country, with an estimated incidence of more than 600,000 cases every year.
Scientists note that the disease has a long history of developing resistance to modern medicine's arsenal. It became resistant to sulfanilamide in the 1940s, penicillins and tetracyclines in the 1980s, and fluoroquinolones by 2007, stated health news website Science Daily. "The treatment options recommended by the CDC are now limited to third-generation cephalosporins," and their effectiveness is decreasing rapidly.
Recently in the UK, doctors have been forced to change the recommended treatment for the disease -- also the second most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the UK -- because it is now resistant to the oral antibiotic cefixime. The Health Protection Agency in the UK says laboratory tests show that failure of gonorrhea treatment has grown from 10.6 percent in 2005 to 17.4 percent in 2010.
SAFE SEX IS NOT ONLY SMART, IT'S GOOD FOR YOU
International experts such as the CDC and the World Health Organization are working on strategies to prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
In the meantime, both organizations strongly advocate practicing safe sex and getting screened for sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, if you are sexually active.
Source:AFP
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