Drug-resistant gonorrhea spreads in US

Drug-resistant gonorrhea is spreading across the United States and new treatments are needed to combat the sexually transmitted disease, the federally run Centers for Disease Control said Friday.

The CDC is so alarmed at the spike in cases of gonorrhea, one of the most common STDs in America, that it is no longer recommending doctors treat it with kind of antibiotics typically prescribed in the past, it said in a statement.
The warning came after a study showed that the number of gonorrhea cases in men rose dramatically in 26 US cities between 2001 and 2006.

A full 13.3 percent of cases were found to be resistant to antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones in the first half of 2006, compared to less than one percent in 2001.

"We are running out of options to treat this serious disease," said Dr. Kevin Fenton of the CDC, adding there was "an urgent need for new, effective medicines to treat gonorrhea."

Previously, orally administered drugs known as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and levofloxacin were prescribed to treat the disease. Now the CDC is recommending a single class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins, often administered by injection.

Gonorrhea is believed to affect 700,000 Americans each year and is the second most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease after chlamydia. Gonorrhea can cause sterility in men and women and can make it easier to contract
HIV.