Gonorhea could become an incurable sexually transmitted infection due to increased resistance to antibiotics, British health authorities are warning.
Gonorrhea may not be cured soon, reports the BBC. In England, the Chief Medical Officer, equivalent to the French Director General of Health, took up his pen to alert doctors and pharmacists of the threat linked to this sexually transmitted infection (STI) which is growing on British soil, and that antibiotics are struggling to to treat.
Ultra-resistant strain
In question: an increased resistance of the bacteria, Neisseria gonorrhea, to treatments. “Gonorrhea is at risk of becoming an incurable disease, due to the continual emergence of resistance to antibiotics,” predicts Dame Sally Davies.
In fact, while the cases continue to increase, in March, the authorities drew attention to a strain detected in the north of the country, very resistant to the drugs usually used to treat it.
Misuse of treatments
This resistance is explained, at least partially, by misuse in the prescription and delivery of antibiotics. Two treatments are used, which must be taken together: ceftriaxone (in injectable form) and azithromycin (in tablets).
However, some points of sale, especially online pharmacies, only deliver tablets, explains the head of the NHS (National Health System, British health system), taking up alerts previously launched by associations in the country.
The fact of using only one of the two treatments strengthens the adaptive capacity of the bacteria. Doctors and pharmacists are therefore invited to pay particular attention when prescribing and dispensing drugs.
Cases of gonorrhea, but also of syphilis and chlamydia, have been on the rise in recent years all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently estimated that every day nearly a million people are infected with an STI.
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