Gonorrhea Is Winning

via Here It Comes: Super Gonorrhea :-/ – James Hamblin – The Atlantic:

The list of effective antibiotics has been dwindling as the bacteria became resistant, and now its down to one. Five years ago, the CDC said fluoroquinolones were no longer effective, but oral cephalosporins were still a common/easy treatment. Now injected ceftriaxone is the only recommended effective drug we have left. And it has to be given along with either azithromycin or doxycycline.CDCSo, yes, getting gonorrhea now means that you have to go in and get antibiotics through a needle. And then everyone with whom youve had sex in the last 60 days has to get tested, too.

Once gonorrhea becomes resistant to the last of our cephalosporin antibiotics — “its only a matter of time,” according to Dr. Gail Bolan, Director of STD Prevention at the CDC in todays announcement — we will have no treatment. Then when it gets into your bloodstream, it will be lethal.

I always have this sense that someone will figure it out before that time comes, but there is very little research and development going on right now in this area. Dr. Bolan mentioned one set of ongoing clinical trials.

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Image courtesy shutterstock /  Arkady

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