Gonorrhea becoming resistant to another antibiotic

Researchers in Hawaii say that several cases of gonorrhea have been reported in the state that are resistant to an antibiotic prescribed as second-line therapy for patients infected with bacteria already resistant to the most common first-line treatment, according to reports in the September edition of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Gonorrhea cases diagnosed in the Pacific Rim, including Hawaii, are already typically resistant to Cipro (ciprofloxacin), which was abandoned as a first-line treatment for the sexually transmitted disease in the late 1990s. Now case reports of gonorrhea infections also resistant to cefixime, the drug chosen as the standard second-line treatment, are beginning to surface in Hawaii. "These first U.S. reports of multi-drug-resistant gonorrhea with decreased susceptibility to cefixime are of concern because the spread of such strains threatens to further limit treatment options for gonorrhea," the researchers wrote.