Expressing its concern over a rise in fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea, CDC has urged doctors to use antibiotics such as Cipro, Rocephin Floxin, and Levaquin for the treatment of gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea is among the most common sexually-transmitted diseases in the world and is caused by Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria gonorrheae. Infection with gonorrhea increases the risk of passing on or becoming infected with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). This is likely due to weakening of the mucosal surface secondary to the gonorrhea infection.
It's the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States, with nearly 340,000 U.S. cases reported in 2005.
CDC also added that there is urgent need for the development of new drugs for the treatment of gonorrhea after old drugs failed to respond to this sexually transmitted disease.
The CDC is calling for new drugs and a treatment switch of antibiotics after studying that fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea is present nationwide and is continuing to rise among heterosexual men and among men who have with them. The new data and gonorrhea treatment recommendations appear in the most recent CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
