Gonorrhea has become unstoppable. High Resistant Cases Found in the U.S.

 Gonorrhea has become unstoppable. High Resistant Cases Found in the U.S.

The most highly drug-resistant cases of gonorrhea detected in the US to date appeared in two unrelated people in Massachusetts, state health officials announced Thursday.The cases mark the first time that US isolates of the gonorrhea-causing bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, have shown complete resistance or reduced susceptibility to all drugs that are recommended for treatment.

Fortunately, both conditions were successfully treated with strong injections of the antibiotic ceftriaxone, although bacterial isolates showed reduced sensitivity to the drug. Ceftriaxone is currently the frontline recommended treatment for sexually transmitted infections. But health officials said the cases were a warning. "N. gonorrhoeae has become less responsive to a limited arsenal of antibiotics," they said.

Fermentation resistance

For years, global surveillance data collected by the World Health Organization has shown that gonorrhea is becoming more resistant to a whole range of drugs, including front-line drugs such as ceftriaxone. Although surveillance is sporadic globally, a study of WHO data for 2017-2018 published in 2021 found that N. gonorrhoeae isolates with low sensitivity or resistance to ceftriaxone appeared in 21 of the 68 reporting countries, or 31 percent.

Resistance to alternative antibiotics was even higher. Of the 61 countries that reported data on an alternative antibiotic, azithromycin, 51 (84 percent) reported resistance. Of the 51 countries that reported data on antibiotic replacement therapy, cefixime, 24 (47 percent) reported resistance. For ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic that has been largely abandoned as a treatment for gonorrhea due to resistance, all seventy reporting countries have found resistance.

"In many countries, resistance to ciprofloxacin is extremely high, azithromycin resistance is rapidly increasing, and resistance to ceftriaxone and cefixime persists or decreases," the WHO said in 2021. It will be difficult to treat and cure."

The agency was not an exaggeration. Last year, the World Health Organization added that reports of a failed treatment for gonorrhea are piling up. "In the past decade, confirmed failure to treat gonorrhea with ceftriaxone alone or with azithromycin or doxycillin has been reported in Australia, France, Japan, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland," the WHO reported. One isolate reported in Massachusetts yesterday showed low susceptibility to ceftriaxone, cefixime and azithromycin and resistance to ciprofloxacin, penicillin and tetracycline in laboratory tests. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reports that the second isolation appears to have a similar profile based on genetic data. This strain of N. gonorrhoeae has been seen widespread in Asia-Pacific countries and has been detected in recent cases in the UK. High conditions

HIGH CASES

Along with the worrying trend of increasing resistance, there is the fact that gonorrhea cases are high worldwide and are increasing in the United States. In 2020, the World Health Organization estimated that there were 82.4 million new cases of gonorrhea worldwide. In the United States, there were nearly 700,000 cases in 2021, up more than 25 percent from 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In many people, gonorrhea does not show symptoms. In other cases, it is so mild that it may be thought of as a minor bladder infection or a fungal infection. However, over time, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, severe pain, and fertility problems. Health officials stress the need for screening and monitoring to treat an infection early before it becomes severe and has a chance of spreading.

In the two cases of Massachusetts, health officials are now working on contact tracing. Without a clear link between the two cases, officials say it is likely more prevalent than is currently known.

Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Margaret Cook said in a statement: "The discovery of this strain of gonorrhea is a serious public health concern that the Department of Public Health, the CDC and other health departments have been cautious about its detection in the United States." "We urge all sexually active people to have regular screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and consider reducing the number of their sexual partners and increasing their use of condoms when having sex. Physicians advise reviewing clinical alert and assisting with our expanded surveillance efforts. "