Transcript

NARRATOR:

Gonorrhoea is a major public health concern in the United States. More than 800000 new infections occur each year. But because many people don't have symptoms, fewer than half are detected and reported to CDC. Untreated gonorrhoea can cause serious health problems. For women, it can increase their risk for a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy. And for men and women, the infection can cause conditions that can lead to infertility. It can also increase a person's risk of getting or giving HIV.

Medication to treat gonorrhoea has been around for decades, but the bacteria has grown resistant to nearly every drug ever used to treat it. In the 1980s, resistance to penicillin and tetracycline grows, and they are no longer recommended to treat gonorrhoea. Fluoroquinolones are the leading drugs to treat gonorrhoea in the 1990s, but the bacteria was adapting to the drugs. By the 2000s, resistance to fluoroquinolones steadily takes hold. CDC modifies treatment recommendations throughout much of the decade to keep pace.

In 2000, the drug is no longer recommended to treat people infected in Asia or the Pacific Islands. By 2002, this recommendation extends to California. By 2004, CDC no longer recommends it for men who have sex with men in the United States. By 2007, resistance is so widespread that CDC no longer recommends fluoroquinolones to anyone in the US to treat gonorrhoea.

Only one class of antibiotics, known as cephalosporins, remains to treat the infection. There are two main cephalosporins to treat gonorrhoea-- the oral drugs Cefixime and the injection Ceftriaxone. In 2010, CDC takes additional measures to combat resistance, recommending dual treatment with either Cefixime or an increased dose of Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin or Doxycycline. But just two years later, in 2012, CDC updates treatment recommendations again in response to data suggesting the oral cephalosporin Cefixime is becoming less effective. And Gonorrhoea has become harder and harder to treat.

Today, we are down to one last recommended treatment option-- dual treatment with an injection of Ceftriaxone and an oral dose of Azithromycin. Little now stands between us and untreatable Gonorrhoea. There are already troubling signs with the last recommended treatment. Abroad, infections resistant to Ceftriaxone have been detected in several countries. And within the US, while not common, resistance to Azithromycin has been found.

The US hasn't seen treatment failure when using these two drugs together, but drug resistance is rising, and the pipeline for new drugs is shrinking. Our last treatment option won't last forever. We must keep drug-resistant Gonorrhoea as a leading priority.

Learn more at cdc.gov/std/Gonorrhoea/arg.