Gonorrhea Is Now Only Treatable With One Drug

http://www.businessinsider.com/gonorrhea-is-now-only-treatable-with-one-drug-2012-8



Earlier today the CDC announced new rules for the treatment for Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease that can contribute to HIV transmission, recommending that American doctors only use ceftriaxon in their treatment. The rules make for worrisome reading.

Previously, the STD had been treatable by both cefixime and ceftriaxone, but new studies suggest that the disease is becoming increasingly immune to cefixime — just like it did with penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline and doxycycline and a host of other new drugs. The aim is to stop over-prescribing cefixime before the drug becomes completely resistant.

Why have these drugs stopped working? The CDC cited the "ability of Neisseria gonorrhea to develop antimicrobial resistance" as the key reasoning behind the new rules. To put it simply, the drug is unusually good at beating the best medicines we throw at it.
"If this was a person, this person would be incredibly creative," aid Jonathan Zenilman, of John Hopkins told NPR. "The bug has an incredible ability to adapt and just develop new mechanisms of resisting the impact of these drugs."


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