Antibiotics have been leading the fight against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) since the 1940s. But now the infections are fighting back – in England and Wales in 2011, cases of gonorrhoea rose by a quarter as strains of the disease showed resistance to the drug treatment.
Health chiefs have now launched a new campaign known as the Gonorrhoea Resistance Action Plan to deal with the problem, which is fast becoming a major issue worldwide. The Action Plan has been developed by the Gonococcal Resistant to Antimicrobials Surveillance Programme (GRASP) to examine how gonorrhoea has become increasingly resistant to the antibiotics currently used to treat the disease.
Gonorrhoea is the second most common bacterial STI in England and in 2011, new cases rose by 25% in one year to almost 21,000. More than a third of new diagnoses involved men who have sex with men with a third reported to be repeat infections.
The idea behind the Action Plan is to raise awareness of the threat of gonorrhoea and to inform those who take part in risky sexual activity that antibiotics can no longer treat the disease simply and effectively. The Action Plan will be used to collect essential data on gonorrhoea diagnoses and treatment failures to inform and guide clinicians in dealing with the rising threat of antibiotic resistance. More will also be done to promote the safe sex message, particularly through the use of condoms in penetrative sex.
Drugs such as ceftriaxone and azithromycin are commonly used to treat gonorrhoea but an increasing number of cases have proven to be resistant to the drugs in England and around the world. Infection resistance is now considered one of the major health issues facing the medical profession.
Comments are closed.