OH NO! ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT GONORRHEA FOUND IN JAPAN!

Researchers have discovered a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to antibiotics.
Scientists announced the discovery of the new H041 strain at a meeting of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research in Quebec City, Canada, reports MSNBC. This stubborn strain displays a strong resistance to the commonly administered treatments called cephalosporins.

Cephalosporins, such as cefixime, which is taken orally, and ceftriaxone, which is injected, are used to treat gonorrhea.

H041, first found in a the pharynx of a Japanese sex worker, is four to eight times more resistant to ceftriaxone than any other known strain.

"Why this is so concerning is that there are no other treatment options besides cephalosporins right now," Dr. Kimberly Workowski, an STD infection expert at Emory University, told MSNBC. "For pharyngeal infection, oral drugs do not work and ceftiaxone is the only injectable."

What's more, she explained, if history is any guide, the H041 strain will soon arrive in the U.S.

Even in the U.S., resistance to these drugs is on the rise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The CDC has offered a temporary solution for tough-to-treat strains – combining higher doses of halosporins with other powerful antibiotics, including azithromycin or doxycycline.

There are worries that while this may treat the gonorrhea, there may be toxic side effects.

And there may be other drug-resistant strains to come.

The percentage of gonorrhea cases that are resistant to the two commonly administered treatments is on the rise, according to the CDC report, per MSNBC.



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