August 13
,
2012
by: ASRM Office of Public Affairs
Published in ASRM Bulletin Volume 14, Number 46
Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated guidelines for the treatment of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea in response to significant increases in documented cases throughout the US to the resistance of antibiotics in treating the disease.
Last summer, the CDC issued a report outlining the very real likelihood of an impending untreatable gonorrhea epidemic. CDC estimates there are more than 700,000 gonorrhea infections each year in the US which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.
The updated guidelines move from an exclusive recommendation of oral antibiotic treatment as the first line of defense for gonorrhea, and now instead recommend that infections be treated with an injectable antibiotic in combination with one of two other oral antibiotics.
The CDC also released a Cephalosporin-Resistant Gonorrhea Response Plan that makes a number of recommendations to clinical providers and state and local health departments to help deal with the rise of antibiotic resistant gonorrhea.
These guidelines were published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6131a3.htm?s_cid=mm6131a3_w.
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