Results 1 to 2 of 2
-
10-06-2012 #1
First drug-resistant gonorrhea strain emerges
First drug-resistant gonorrhea strain emerges
For the first time, international researchers have identified a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to treatment with antibiotics, scientists announced at a sex disease research conference Monday.
The common bacterial infection, often called the “clap,” has until now been easily treatable with antibiotics but if left alone can cause infertility in women and painful urination and a pus-oozing infection in men.
“This is both an alarming and a predictable discovery,” said Magnus Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria.
“Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it.”
Details of the discovery were to be released by Unemo and colleagues at the 19th conference of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research, on from July 10-13 in Quebec City, Canada.
Since the finding is so new, scientists are unclear how widespread the resistant strain may be in the world population, but concerns are mounting that it could spread quickly.
“While it is still too early to assess if this new strain has become widespread, the history of newly emergent resistance in the bacterium suggests that it may spread rapidly unless new drugs and effective treatment programs are developed,” Unemo said.
As many as 700,000 people in the United States are believed to get gonorrhea annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Up to half of infected women experience no symptoms, while men usually see signs of infection within two to 30 days.
“Anyone who has any type of sex can catch gonorrhea,” according to the US National Institutes of Health, which notes however that risks are higher among people with multiple partners and people who have unprotected sex.
“Gonorrhea is more common in large cities, inner-city areas, populations with lower overall levels of education and people with lower socioeconomic status,” added the NIH.
People who suspect they may be infected should see a doctor in order to obtain a prescription and should not attempt to treat the problem themselves, experts say.
The current treatment recommended by the CDC is an single dose pill of an antibiotic called cefixime, or a single dose of azithromycin (Zithromax) for people who are allergic to penicillin, ceftriaxone or cefixime.
Penicillin is no longer considered the standard treatment because it was previously found to be ineffective in some cases.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/1...train-emerges/
Last edited by natina; 10-06-2012 at 12:36 AM.
-
10-06-2012 #2
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Posts
- 7,916
Re: First drug-resistant gonorrhea strain emerges
This is pretty alarming. And it’s probably just the beginning, not only for bacteria but also for viruses. It’s been predicted and announced for a while, now. We fed ourselves up with antibiotics at the first sign of any infection, which reinforced bacteria’s capacity to adapt and develop resistance. Lots of fun to come…
Similar Threads
-
Drug use.....
By pimpdog in forum General DiscussionReplies: 61Last Post: 10-22-2011, 12:24 AM -
New strain of Gonorhhea
By Prospero in forum General DiscussionReplies: 5Last Post: 07-11-2011, 11:51 PM -
New Strain of "super" HIV found
By NYCe in forum General DiscussionReplies: 15Last Post: 08-15-2008, 02:39 PM -
TGirls are like a drug.
By olite71 in forum General DiscussionReplies: 11Last Post: 02-26-2007, 02:43 AM -
Rare Drug-Resistant HIV Found in NYC
By Danielle Foxxx in forum General DiscussionReplies: 97Last Post: 02-19-2005, 06:49 AM