Currently, gonorrhea is curable.
Since 2012, the CDC has advised doctors and other health professionals to use a combination therapy to treat the infection. The combination includes the injectable antibiotic ceftriaxone along with the antibiotic pill azithromycin. By 2014, more than 97 percent of U.S. cases were treated this way, up from 9 percent in 2006, the CDC said.
The bad news? The CDC estimates that at least 2 million Americans contract infections — including gonorrhea — that are resistant to at least one antibiotic.
Still, “no patients have had confirmed failures of (gonorrhea) treatment with the currently recommended combination of ceftriaxone and azithromycin in the United States,” Kirkcaldy stressed.
“However, a small but growing number of gonorrhea infections that were unsuccessfully treated with cefixime, ceftriaxone, or azithromycin by themselves have been observed in other countries,” he said.
“And at least one azithromycin treatment failure has occurred in the U.S.,” Kirkcaldy added. This means that “it is only a matter of time before gonorrhea becomes resistant to the only remaining treatments currently available,” he said.
The alarm in the United Kingdom followed antibiotic-resistant cases that popped up earlier in 2015 in the British city of Leeds. That government’s letter urged medical professionals to adhere to the recommended two-drug combination treatment, given that antibiotic misuse could open the door to resistance.
In the United States, antibiotic overuse or misuse “is probably not the largest contributor to the problem,” Kirkcaldy said. Instead, he suggested, the threat more likely stems from resistant strains being imported from abroad.
Regardless, the fear of a “post-antibiotic era” remains.
“Losing effective treatment will cripple our ability to fight and prevent gonorrhea, and will also leave patients at greater risk of serious health complications from untreated gonorrhea,” Kirkcaldy warned.
The solution: fast reporting of all treatment failures to public health authorities, coupled with prevention.
“It has never been more important for men and women to protect themselves from gonorrhea,” he said, with particular concern for men who have sex with other men. Condoms are key for prevention, he added.
“If someone is diagnosed with gonorrhea, she or he needs to be treated right away with two antibiotics,” said Kirkcaldy. “And she or he needs to tell all of her or his recent sexual partners to make sure they are checked by a health care provider and treated.”
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