MYFOXNY.COM -
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are unveiling new guidelines in an effort to keep gonorrhea from becoming resistant to the last known treatment for the sexually transmitted disease.
Gonorrhea, the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States. It is caused by a bacterium and the CDC estimates that there are more than 700,000 new cases a year with only about half of the infections being reported.
In the past, gonorrhea has developed resistance to every antibiotic recommended for treatment, leaving just one class of drugs – the cephalosporins – as the final recommended class of effective drugs.
According to the CDC, recent evidence suggests that resistance to cephalosporins may soon emerge in the United States. While there have been no cases of the drug not working in treatment in the U.S., there are cases in other parts of the world where the treatment has failed.
Under the new guidelines, the CDC no longer recommends the oral antibiotic cefixime as a first-line treatment option for gonorrhea in the United States.
This change leaves only one recommended drug proven effective for treating gonorrhea, the injectable antibiotic ceftriaxone.
The revised guidelines are designed to preserve this last effective treatment option and delay the emergence of untreatable gonorrhea.
According to the revised guidelines, the most effective treatment for gonorrhea moving forward is a combination therapy: the injectable antibiotic ceftriaxone along with one of two other oral antibiotics, either azithromycin or doxycycline.
CDC officials say there is an increasing threat of untreatable gonorrhea and there is an urgent need for new treatments.
"It is imperative that researchers and pharmaceutical companies prioritize research to identify or develop new, effective drugs or drug combinations," Dr. Gail Bolan, director of CDC's Division of STD Prevention said.
She says there is only one promising gonorrhea drug in the pipeline.
Most women and some men with gonorrhea have no symptoms at all. Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent health problems in both women and men and can be life-threatening.
(CDC image)
