Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Strain In Hawaii A First For U.S.

A drug-resistant cluster of gonorrhea infections in Hawaii have health officials worried that the sexually transmitted disease could soon prove untreatable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that an antibiotic-resistant strain was discovered earlier this year in seven patients in Honolulu. All the individuals ― six men and one woman ― were successfully treated using the CDC-recommended two-drug combination of ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Laboratory tests, however, showed the strain had “decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone and very high-level resistance to azithromycin,” according to the CDC. It marks the first time a cluster of infections in the U.S. has been shown to resist the last line of defense. Dr. Alan Katz, a professor of public health at the University of Hawaii, told The Huffington Post it’s important to understand that gonorrhea, at least for now, is still treatable ― that this potenial “superbug” has not yet arrived.  What has Katz and others worried is that the strain could continue mutating. “If it develops more resistance, then it can potentially become a problem,” Katz said. The Hawaii discovery comes just two months after a CDC report warned about the looming threat of drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae ― the bacteria that causes gonorrhea ― and the World Health Organization released new guidelines for treating the STD. “Our last line of ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news