Few Options for Treating Drug Resistant Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea, one of the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) is now so drug resistant that few treatment options remain.

New evidence from the gonococcal isolate surveillance project (GISP), conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA), shows that fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea is now widespread among American heterosexuals and homosexuals. Since the prevalence among heterosexuals has gone beyond the 5% threshold, the CDC has announced it no longer recommends fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin) as a treatment for gonorrhea in the United States. Among homosexuals, gonorrhea--the second most common infectious disease in the US after Chlamydia--the 5% threshold had already been crossed in earlier years.

The new GISP data, which covers 26 cities in the United States, shows that among heterosexual men, the percentage of fluoroquinolone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (QRNG) cases went up 11-fold between 2001 and 2006. The treatment options that now remain are limited to one group of antibiotics only - cephalosporins.

"New treatment recommendations are critical if we are to continue to see progress in controlling gonorrhea,” said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's division of STD prevention. "We cannot afford to lose ground against a disease that continues to affect roughly 700,000 Americans each year.”

The CDC is urging state and local health departments to monitor gonorrhea treatment failures for possible emerging resistance, particularly to cephalosporin. It is also working with the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland) to strengthen international efforts to monitor cephalosporin resistance and invest more in research and development for new treatments.


Related Links:
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
World Health Organization