WHO warns of rise of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea

The growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhoea much harder to treat, with the common sexually-transmitted infection taking on forms that are immune to treatment in certain cases.

A new warning has been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) after an analysis of data from 77 countries showed that gonorrhoea is developing widespread resistance to ciprofloxacin and increasing resistance to azithromycin, with even the current last-resort treatment – extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs) such as oral cefixime or injectable ceftriaxone – starting to become ineffective.

In most regions, ESCs are the only single antibiotic that remain effective for treating gonorrhoea, but resistance to cefixime – and, more rarely, to ceftriaxone – is now being reported in more than 50 countries.

Moreover, the research and development pipeline for gonorrhoea is relatively empty, with only three new candidate drugs in various stages of clinical development, suggesting that new efforts need to be made to treat the condition, and to stop its spread through safer sexual behaviour.

Dr Marc Sprenger, director of antimicrobial resistance at WHO, said: "To control gonorrhoea, we need new tools and systems for better prevention, treatment, earlier diagnosis, and more complete tracking and reporting of new infections, antibiotic use, resistance and treatment failures."

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