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Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly
resistant to the antibiotics used to treat it, the World Health Organization is
warning ahead of the release of a global action plan to combat the STD.
“This organism has basically been
developing resistance against every medication we’ve thrown at it,” including
the cephalosporin class currently considered the last line of treatment, said
Dr. Manjula Lusti-Narasimhan, a scientist in WHO’s STD department. “It’s not a
European problem or an African problem, it’s really a worldwide problem.”
Overuse or incorrect use of
antibiotics and gonorrhea’s ability to mutate quickly in response to treatment
are believed to be the main reasons the bacteria is quickly becoming a super
bug, according to scientists. Resistance to cephalosporins was first reported
in Japan, but has since been detected in Britain, Australia, France, Sweden,
and Norway - all countries with well-developed health systems. This indicates
it is likely that drug-resistant gonorrhea strains are circulating undetected
elsewhere.
WHO’s plan calls for governments and
physicians to increase surveillance of resistant gonorrhea and become less
complacent about the STD, and it encourages researchers to move quickly to find
a new cure.
Gonorrhea is the second-most common
STD after chlamydia. WHO estimates that of the 498 million new cases of curable
STDs worldwide each year, gonorrhea accounts for 106 million. Gonorrhea
increases the likelihood of contracting other infections, including HIV.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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