Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released data indicating a worrisome increase in cases of drug-resistant gonorrhea among sexually-active people of both genders at all ages. Officials are recommending that doctors treat the infections with a new class of antibiotics.

A estimated 700,000 new cases of gonorrhea occur each year and, over time, the disease has become resistant to several classes of antibiotics. Specifically, the bacteria have become tolerant to treatment with sulfa, penicillin, tetracyclines and, now, fluoroquinolones. As a result, doctors are being asked to prescribe drugs in the cephalosporin class, the last line of defense against the infection.

Ominously, there are no new antibiotics for gonorrhea in the pharmaceutical pipeline.