{"id":1146,"date":"2016-02-04T15:19:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T15:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/sti\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2016-02-04T15:19:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T15:19:37","slug":"warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/sti\/2016\/02\/04\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\/","title":{"rendered":"Warding off the scourge of untreatable gonorrhoea?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A recent analysis (<a href=\"http:\/\/jama.jamanetwork.com\/article.aspx?articleid=2467544\">Kircaldy &amp; Papp<\/a> (K&amp;P) of 2006-2014 US CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) data on Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) susceptibility to cefixime and ceftriaxone in isolates suggests a halt in the drift to resistance over the period 2011-13 followed by a return in 2014 to the upward trend. Among isolates from MSM the proportion with resistance rose from 0.2% in 2008 to 4% in 2010, then fell incrementally to 0.8% in 2013, before rising once again to 1.3%. It is tempting to see a correlation between these resistance trends and recent treatment guideline changes. After all, 2010 \u2013 the year before the beginning of this fall in NG resistance \u2013 saw the establishment in the US of a therapeutic regime involving combination therapy with cefixime or ceftriaxone plus a second antimicrobial; whereas 2012 \u2013 the year before the trend reached its lowest point \u2013 saw the further attempt to safeguard cefixime susceptibility through a regime of ceftriaxone-based combination therapy as the single recommended therapy. However, K&amp;P caution against assuming a causal relation between resistance trends and these measures, since various factors might have contributed to the improvement. But, even if we do assume a causal relation, the 2014 data suggest that, as K&amp;P put it, \u2018the improvement in susceptibility may be short-lived\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, experts seem broadly in favour of antimicrobial stewardship \u2013 and, more specifically, the currently recommended regime \u2013 as a last-ditch attempt to postpone the progress of multi-resistant NG. Yet, the chances of combination therapy achieving more than a temporary reprieve are slender \u2013 at least according to a recent comprehensive examination of the question (<a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/91\/4\/238.full.pdf\">Rice (STIs)<\/a>. So what is to be done? Much is made in the literature of the role of \u2018core\u2019 populations \u2013 chiefly MSM and female sex workers \u2013 in sustaining epidemics, and of the importance of developing interventions directed specifically to these groups (<a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/89\/Suppl_4\/iv47.full\">Lewis\/2013 (STIs)<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/91\/4\/241.abstract\">Guiguere &amp; Alary (STIs)<\/a>. (For example, the alarmingly increased proportion of resistant isolates registered by K&amp;P has hitherto affected, almost exclusively, MSM in the West of the US.) The problem with this, however, is that, while NG control is achievable only when core groups are treated, the treatment of those groups maximizes dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant strains (<a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2011\/12\/14\/sextrans-2011-050049.short\">Chan &amp; Fisman (STIs)<\/a>. One possible way out of this epidemiological \u2018catch-22\u2019 is indicated in another recent paper (<a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/91\/4\/234.abstract\">Lewis\/2015 (STIs)<\/a>. Lewis draws attention to the importance of the oropharyngeal niche in enabling the dissemination of NG resistant-strains, and proposes widespread screening of core populations, using state-of-the-art resistance-detecting NAATs and treatment with those antimicrobials known to be of greater efficacity for the oropharyngeal site \u2013 such as ciprofloxacin. Even where such interventions were affordable, however, there remains, given the largely asymptomatic character of oropharyngeal NG, the not inconsiderable problem of defining and accessing the core group (<a href=\"http:\/\/sti.bmj.com\/content\/91\/4\/241.abstract\">Guiguere &amp; Alary (STIs))<\/a> \u2013 and time may be short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A recent analysis (Kircaldy &amp; Papp (K&amp;P) of 2006-2014 US CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) data on Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) susceptibility to cefixime and ceftriaxone in isolates suggests a halt in the drift to resistance over the period 2011-13 followed by a return in 2014 to the upward trend. Among isolates from [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/sti\/2016\/02\/04\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[812,2103,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-resistance","category-gonorrhoea","category-health-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Warding off the scourge of untreatable gonorrhoea? - Sexually Transmitted Infections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/sti\/2016\/02\/04\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Warding off the scourge of untreatable gonorrhoea? - Sexually Transmitted Infections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; A recent analysis (Kircaldy &amp; Papp (K&amp;P) of 2006-2014 US CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) data on Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) susceptibility to cefixime and ceftriaxone in isolates suggests a halt in the drift to resistance over the period 2011-13 followed by a return in 2014 to the upward trend. Among isolates from [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/sti\/2016\/02\/04\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sexually Transmitted Infections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-04T15:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/04\\\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/04\\\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Warding off the scourge of untreatable gonorrhoea?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-04T15:19:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/04\\\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":470,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Drug resistance\",\"Gonorrhoea\",\"health policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/04\\\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/sti\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/04\\\/warding-off-the-scourge-of-untreatable-gonorrhoea\\\/\",\"name\":\"Warding off the scourge of untreatable gonorrhoea? 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