(Thursday, may 12, HealthDay News) - five cases of gonorrhea resistant to the antibiotic in the County of San Diego between August and October 2009 show the need for continuous monitoring for such cases, according to a new report by public health officials.
Researchers note that antibiotic therapy can cure successfully gonorrhea, but sexually transmissible disease drug-resistant strains were found in the world.
United States, more than 700,000 people each year get new cases of gonococcal infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment with both drugs (dual) is recommended to treat the infection and prevent the development of resistance to antibiotics.
The five cases documented in the report involved patients with gonorrhea resisting azithromycin, one of the antibiotics and in recommended dual. The patients were all men who had sex with men and who had no connection known to each other.
This suggests that gonorrhea antibiotic-resistant strains may be widespread among men who have sex with men in the County of San Diego, researchers have warned. Continuous monitoring is essential to detect these strains and to guide the treatment of patients, they added.
Three of the five patients were white, one was black and one was Hispanic. Four were residents of the County of San Diego and was a resident of a State of Middle West. The average age of patients was 29.
The report is published in the May 13 morbidity and mortality Weekly Report, published by the CDC.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more on gonorrhea.
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