Up until recently, gonorrhea, a bacterial sexually transmitted disease, was able to be treated pretty easily with antibiotics. Unfortunately, this quick fix is slowly becoming ineffective.
According to STAT, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that the disease is developing an immunity to the antibiotics that have been used to treat it. In the CDC’s Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report, researchers stated that a large number of gonorrhea cases have become resistant to the drugs azithromycin and ceftriaxone, the two substances used to treat the STD.
The researchers examined over 5,000 gonorrhea isolates collected in 2014. They discovered that 2.5 percent of those samples showed resistance to azithromocyn, up from 0.6 percent in 2014. The resistance to ceftriaxone was still negligible, according to Nature World News.
Although it’s still unclear whether the rate of resistance will grow even more, researches agree that these findings will certainly mean complications when treating gonorrhea, both in the present and future.
Gonorrhea is one of the most common STDs in the U.S., and can have highly negative side effects for those who contract the disease. If it remains untreated, males who contract gonorrhea may be faced with infertility and severe testicular pain. In females, the disease can lead to infertility and chronic pelvic pain. Furthermore, if a woman who is pregnant contracts gonorrhea, the baby is at risk of complications as well, such as vision-threatening eye infections.
In 2014, more than 350,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with the STD, according to Refinery29. Untreatable gonorrhea could become a very serious issue, especially with such a high rate of contraction. This news is a serious lesson to get tested, always wear a condom and stay safe!