[Comment] Macrolide resistance in yaws

The study by Oriol Mitj à and colleagues in The Lancet1 shows that a single round of mass administration of azithromycin is insufficient to achieve yaws eradication. It also represents the first report of a mutation in both 23S rRNA genes of the yaws-causing spirochaete, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue (T p pertenu e), causing macrolide resistance in five epidemiologically linked patients. The mutation, A2059G, was previously reported in a patient with syphilis (caused by T p pallidum) with spiramycin treatment failure;2 it is one of two macrolide-resistant mutations previously detected in T p pallidum (the ot her is A2058G).
Source: LANCET - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Comment Source Type: research