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10-Jul-2011 - An international research team has discovered a strain of gonorrhea resistant to all currently
available antibiotics. This new strain is likely to transform a common and once easily treatable infection into a global threat
to public health. The details of the discovery made by Dr. Magnus Unemo, Dr. Makoto Ohnishi, and colleagues will be presented
at the 19th conference of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research (ISSTDR) which runs July 10-13
in Quebec City, Canada.
The team of researchers successfully identified a heretofore unknown variant of the bacterium that causes
gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Analyzing this new strain, dubbed H041, allowed researchers to identify the genetic mutations
responsible for the bacterium's extreme resistance to all cephalosporin-class antibiotics-the last remaining drugs still
effective in treating gonorrhea.
"This is both an alarming and a predictable discovery," noted Dr. Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory
for Pathogenic Neisseria. "Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a
remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it."
"While it is still too early to assess if this new strain has become widespread, the history of newly emergent
resistance in the bacterium suggests that it may spread rapidly unless new drugs and effective treatment programs are developed,"
Dr. Unemo continued.
Gonorrhea is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world. In the U.S. alone, according to the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of cases is estimated at 700,000 annually.
Gonorrhea is asymptomatic in about 50% of infected women and approximately 2-5% of men. When symptomatic, it is characterized by a burning
sensation when urinating and pus discharge from the genitals. If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to serious and irreversible health
complications in both women and men.
In women, the infection can cause chronic pelvic pain and ectopic pregnancy. It can lead to infertility, mostly in women but also in men,
and it increases the risk of HIV transmission. In 3-4% of cases, untreated infections spread to the skin, blood, joints, or even the heart
and can cause potentially mortal lesions. Babies born of infected mothers are at high risk of developing serious blood and joint
infections, and passage through the birth canal of an infected mother can cause blindness in the infant.
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About the 2011 ISSTDR Conference
The 2011 ISSTDR Conference is co-hosted by Université Laval and its affiliated teaching hospital, Centre hospitalier affilié
universitaire de Québec. It is the world's foremost conference in the field of STD research, bringing together 1,200
scientists from every continent to discuss the most recent developments and research findings on STD detection,
prevention, and treatment; emerging threats in bacterial STDs; major intervention programs for STD control;
and risks associated with certain sexual practices.
The complete program is available at www.isstdrquebec2011.com/
Contact: Jean-François Huppé
jean-francois.huppe@dc.ulaval.ca
418-656-7785
Université Laval
Source: EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-07/ul-sdf070711.php
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