Gonorrhea is the second most common sexually transmitted infection in Europe. It is of concern that in more and more countries, resistant pathogens are not more have been found, against the common antibiotics.
The current results suggest that the causative agent of gonorrhea, called the gonococcus show, often a resistance to Azithromycin. This antibiotic is an important part of the therapy for gonorrhea is usually treated with a combination of Ceftriaxone or cefixime and Azithromycin. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported in a recent press release.
In the year 2017, EUR 3,248 pathogens from 27 countries of the EU/EEA States were tested for antibiotic resistance. The analysis showed that the resistance against cefixime, Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin are the same as 2016 to be stable: In the case of Ceftriaxone were observed to have no resistance. In the case of cefixime (1.9 percent) and Azithromycin (7.5 percent) remained the Rate is almost unchanged. However, the number of countries increased, in which resistant bacteria have been reported.
"The fact that we have seen two consecutive years of no Ceftriaxone resistance among the tested isolates, is promising. At the same time, the persistent resistance to Azithromycin in the whole of Europe is a big Problem for us, because the recommended dual therapy with Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin affect wird", ECDC expert Gianfranco Spiteri explains. "To act if the standard antibiotics due to bacterial resistance to stop, we only have very few Alternatives to treat gonorrhea successfully."
The ECDC wants to publish this year, a revised regional response plan to combat multi-resistant gonococci.
ZOU