Gonorrhea - Superbug

Filed in archive Sexual Health on April 13, 2007

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have been around for centuries. Now with the widening of sexual boundaries, there has been an upsurge in these infections, and they are becoming more difficult to control,

According to an article in Yahoo News, gonorrhea has become a superbug:

Gonorrhea has now joined the list of other superbugs for which treatment options have become dangerously few," said Dr. Henry Masur, president of the Infectious Disease Society of America. "To make a bad problem even worse, we're also seeing a decline in the development of new antibiotics to treat these infections."

The STD Resource Network warns of an increase in cases of gonorrhea:

A dramatic increase in gonorrhea cases in California will be discussed this summer at a statewide summit hosted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Los Angeles-based group announced Friday.

Reported cases of gonorrhea in the state went up from 21,619 in 2000 to 34,338 in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) have the facts about gonorrhea. including this:

Gonorrhea is the second most commonly-reported notifiable disease in the United States. Infections due to Neisseria gonorrhoeae, like those resulting from Chlamydia trachomatis, are a major cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in the United States. PID can lead to serious outcomes in women such as tubal infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and Chronic pelvic pain. In addition, epidemiologic and biologic studies provide strong evidence that gonococcal infections facilitate the transmission of HIV infection.