Gonorrhea’s Drug Resistance Limits Treatment Options — CDC

Gonorrhea isn’t a disease most Americans hear about much anymore, but it’s still a major health threat — and potentially soon an untreatable one.

U.S. health officials took a radical step Thursday,announcing that only one antibiotic is now safe to use regularly against the sexually transmitted disease.

The bacteria that cause gonorrhea have developed resistance to every other antibiotic that had been used — and they’re showing signs of evading an oral drug that had until now been a preferred treatment.

“We’re trying to sound the alarm to prevent untreatable gonorrhea from becoming a reality,” says Gail Bolan, director of the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re very concerned.”

Since 2007, the CDC had recommended treatment with one class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins, because ever-adaptable gonorrhea had outsmarted all other treatments used against it. That class of drugs includes an oral antibiotic, marketed under the brand name Suprax (cefixime) and an injectable antibiotic marketed under the brand name Rocephin (ceftriaxone). The CDC’s new recommendation means that only the injectable drug is now recommended for regular use, so patients need to get a shot rather than taking pills.

About 700,000 cases of gonorrhea are estimated to occur in the U.S. each year, the CDC says, though fewer than half of those estimated cases are reported. While rates of gonorrhea, colloquially called “the clap,” are low compared with past decades, it’s stillone of the most common STDs. Rates are highest among African Americans and all sexually active teenagers and young adults. Symptoms for men include a burning sensation when urinating, or colored discharge. Most women have no symptoms at all, and untreated gonorrhea can cause complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease.

The new guidelines could be tough for many doctors to follow, given that they don’t regularly stock the injectable drug (it is stocked generally in STD clinics). Many patients prefer pills to shots. And the guidelines also call on clinicians to monitor closely for possible resistance to the shot and make sure patients are cured — meaning they have to return to the doctor’s office.

But without new drugs, the CDC had no choice, Dr. Bolan says. Treatment failures with the oral drug have been reported in Asia and Europe. “It’s only a matter of time before we see it in the U.S.,” she said.

Suprax, the oral drug, may be used in some cases, the CDC says, if getting the injectable drug to a patient seems impossible. That loophole could open the door for doctors to keep prescribing Suprax because it’s easier. But “we want it to be the exception,” Dr. Bolan says. Health departments can monitor treatments because cases of gonorrhea must be reported to them, she said.

The CDC and National Institutes of Health are trying to identify more existing drugs that could be used to treat gonorrhea, Dr. Bolan says. Drug development is more difficult, partly because new generations of antimicrobial drugs are expensive to develop. “The business model has not been there for pharmaceutical companies to develop antimicrobials in our country,” she says.

Read More at-http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2012/08/09/gonorrheas-drug-resistance-limits-treatment-options-cdc/

2012-08-10 11:24:24

Source: http://www.alienadam.com/2012/08/09/gonorrheas-drug-resistance-limits-treatment-options-cdc/