A new US health surveillance study says gonorrhea is becoming resistant to azithromycin - one of the duo of antibiotics recommended for treating the sexually transmitted disease in the United States. The study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Gonorrhea caused by a bacterium occurs in both men and women, and is one of the most common STDs in the US, especially among young people 15-24 years of age, medicalnewstoday.com reported. The CDC currently recommends that gonorrhea be treated with a combination of two antibiotics - azithromycin as an oral dose, and ceftriaxone as a single injection. The combination therapy “still works,” but there is a “distressing sign that the future of current treatment options may be in jeopardy.” The disease is already resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, and fluoroquinolones.
