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Gonorrhea is caused by a bacterium “Nesseria gonorrhea.” Contamination occurs through sexual contact (vaginal, anal or oral). The mother can transmit the infection during childbirth and in rare cases by instruments used during delivery, if not properly sterilized.
The bacterium can also infect the throat during oral sex with an infected partner.
Most people who contract gonorrhea are under the age of 30. In fact, 75% of all cases in the US involve men and
The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is becoming increasingly
resistant to yet another drug, which now leaves just one medication that
can be used as a first-line treatment for the disease, according to a
new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over the last several decades, the bacteria that cause
gonorrhea have developed resistance
to
many antibiotics used to treat the condition, including penicillin,
tetracycline and fluoroquinolones. That left just one class of drugs,
called cephalosporins — which include the drugs cefixime and ceftriaxone
— to be used as treatment.
But today, the CDC announced it no longer recommends cefixime, an
oral medication, as a first-line treatment for gonorrhea, citing data
over the last several years that show cefixime has become less effective
at treating the infection.
That leaves ceftriaxone — an antibiotic delivered by injection — as
the most effective therapy for the condition, health officials say.
"Treatment of patients with gonorrhea with the most effective therapy
will limit the transmission of gonorrhea, prevent complications, and
likely will slow emergence of resistance," the CDC report says.
But because health officials expect that gonorrhea will eventually
become resistant to ceftriaxone, new treatment options are urgently
needed, the CDC says.
Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium
Neisseria gonorrhea and
is spread through sexual activity. People with gonorrhea often show no
symptoms, but the disease can lead to serious complications, including
infertility and
chronic pelvic pain in women, and in men, epididymitis, a painful inflammation of the ducts attached to the testicles that may cause
infertility if
left untreated, according to the CDC. If the bacteria spread to the
blood or joints, the condition can be life-threatening, the CDC says.
There were more than 300,000 cases of gonorrhea reported to the CDC in 2011.
Between 2006 and 2011, the dosage of cefixime needed to prevent
growth of gonorrhea strains circulating in the United States increased,
suggesting that the drug's effectiveness was waning. And there were
reports from other countries that the recommended dose of cefixime did
not cure the condition in some patients.
This recent lab data, and gonorrhea's history of developing
resistance to other antibiotics, prompted the CDC to change its treatment recommendations, the report said.
women between 16 and 30 years old.
