• CDC announces that we're down to our last effective gonorrhea antibiotic
    56 replies, posted
[quote]I just got out of a telebriefing with the CDC. The atmosphere was not a jovial one. The words "gonorrhea epidemic" were thrown around in ominous tones. No one was up for hanging out after.Did you know gonorrhea can kill you? It can, and it's also tragically effective at making women infertile. According to her journals, my great aunt Mabel was "barren," and my grandmother always told me it was probably from gonorrhea. The only reason we don't hear about these awful complications more often -- and we instead think of it as a little oops of an infection ("Can I still drink on these antibiotics?" "Yes." "Cool.") -- is because we've been able to kill it early with relative ease. But over the past decades, gonorrhea has been mowing down our antibiotics. If this was the Olympic 400 IM, gonorrhea would be the Ryan Lochte and our antibiotics would be the guy from Moldova. The list of effective antibiotics has been dwindling as the bacteria became resistant, and now it's down to one. Five years ago, the CDC said fluoroquinolones were no longer effective, but oral cephalosporins were still a common/easy treatment. Now injected ceftriaxone is the only recommended effective drug we have left. And it has to be given along with either azithromycin or doxycycline. [IMG]http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/CDCgontx.jpg[/IMG]CDCSo, yes, getting gonorrhea now means that you have to go in and get antibiotics through a needle. And then everyone with whom you've had sex in the last 60 days has to get tested, too.Once gonorrhea becomes resistant to the last of our cephalosporin antibiotics -- "it's only a matter of time," according to Dr. Gail Bolan, Director of STD Prevention at the CDC in today's announcement -- we will have no treatment. Then when it gets into your bloodstream, it will be lethal.I always have this sense that someone will figure it out before that time comes, but there is very little research and development going on right now in this area. Dr. Bolan mentioned one set of ongoing clinical trials.Here is the full [URL="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6131a3.htm?s_cid=mm6131a3_w"]CDC Statement[/URL]. Here is a [URL="http://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/STDFact-Gonorrhea.htm"]gonorrhea FAQ[/URL] that you can post on your Facebook wall. And apart from conducting high-level antibiotic research in your garage or home office, what else can you do? First, only take antibiotics exactly as prescribed and directed (that's true for any infection). Finish the entire course of the prescription, even if you're feeling better. That will decrease the bacteria's ability to develop resistance.Also, you can avoid getting gonorrhea. Condoms and regular testing are great, but the only way to definitely not get gonorrhea is to not have sex (with someone who has gonorrhea). I'm not saying this is a call for sex robots. That's not what I'm saying. But if it does lead to advancements in sex robot technology, well, so be it.And don't [I]not[/I] seek treatment because gonorrhea is still stigmatized and means you need an injection. The complications aren't worth it. Sixty-four million people get it every year; 700,000 in the United States alone. You're far from the only person who'll get it, and you'll be fine, just be smart and communicative. We're going to have to start talking a lot more about gonorrhea. Gonorrhea, gonorrhea, gonorrhea. [/quote] Source: [url]http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/here-it-comes-super-gonorrhea/260937/[/url]
oh dear
Now if only the US stopped handing out antibiotics (in general) like candy.
[QUOTE=Jaanus;37200720]Now if the US only stopped handing out antibiotics like candy.[/QUOTE] but i have a cold!!!!!! antibiotics work on colds right!!??!!?!?!
Free gonorrhea for everyone!
Don't have sex with someone with gonorrhea For your health
[QUOTE=supersnail11;37200672]Did you know gonorrhea can kill you? It can, [b]and it's also tragically effective at making women infertile.[/b][/QUOTE] [IMG]http://cache.io9.com/assets/images/8/2008/03/children_of_men.jpg[/IMG]
As funny as the title sounds, the actual article is a little frightening.
are you saying it's a bad idea to contract stds??!?!?!!?!
Maybe we will have to start caring about where we stuff our pecker.
[QUOTE=Medevilae;37200728]'Birth rates plummet as people everywhere become scared to get jiggy with it'[/QUOTE] In some regards that'd be kind of a good thing, since there are resource crises abound. But in regards to fear of getting it on, just have regular checkups, and the scientists should put more effort into finding a cure and vaccine. When all that happens, and we're properly equipped to beat this thing without swimming in a pool of antibiotics, that disease ain't gonna rear its head in the developed world no more; for the most part at least, it'll still have a presence in less-developed countries and communities.
[QUOTE]So, yes, getting gonorrhea now means that you have to go in and get antibiotics through a needle.[/QUOTE] ...where does the needle go? :suicide:
[QUOTE=Jaanus;37200720]Now if only the US stopped handing out antibiotics (in general) like candy.[/QUOTE] They are growing great diseases for all of us to die on while we actually try to keep an immune system over in Europe.
[QUOTE=cccritical;37200840]are you saying it's a bad idea to contract stds??!?!?!!?![/QUOTE] i heard all the cool kids and the "bad bitches" are doing it so it must be cool.
[QUOTE=SEKCobra;37200919]They are growing great diseases for all of us to die on while we actually try to keep an immune system over in Europe.[/QUOTE] Not all of europe. There are still country's here where they give you antibiotics as a precaution like when you set a single foot in a hospital.
Yeah I know, but it's still nothing compared to the US. Especially the amount of people being treated that way.
You mean these don't work anymore? [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Kondom.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Medevilae;37200728]'Birth rates plummet as people everywhere become scared to get jiggy with it'[/QUOTE] Do you know how STI's work?
Well hopefully in the future we will come up with some sort of nanobot that can remove infection without the usage of antibodies.
I believe scientists are working on drugs that reduce the bacterias ability to "communicate", thus making them much less prone to become resistant to antibiotics and medications.
[QUOTE=l l;37201291]Do you know how STI's work?[/QUOTE] Do you? Because last I recalled it's pretty damn impossible to get an STI without having sex.
[QUOTE=Hullu V3;37201224]You mean these don't work anymore? [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Kondom.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] All these antibiotics have left only super strains of gonorrhea that have condom-piercing jackets science
[QUOTE=Petrussen;37201516]I believe scientists are working on drugs that reduce the bacterias ability to "communicate", thus making them much less prone to become resistant to antibiotics and medications.[/QUOTE] You have no idea what you're talking about.
[QUOTE=mobrockers2;37200972]Not all of europe. There are still country's here where they give you antibiotics as a precaution like when you set a single foot in a hospital.[/QUOTE] oh gawd, SO MANY SUPERBUGS
I don't have gonorreah.
[QUOTE=Zally13;37201523]Do you? Because last I recalled it's pretty damn impossible to get an STI without having sex.[/QUOTE] False. You can get an STD from any contaminated blood, for instance by using used needles. They're called STDs or STIs because sex is the most likely way of getting the disease, not because it's the only one.
[QUOTE=Petrussen;37201516]I believe scientists are working on drugs that reduce the bacterias ability to "communicate", thus making them much less prone to become resistant to antibiotics and medications.[/QUOTE] that's not how resistance works
Better get gonorrhea quick before they can't treat it.
[QUOTE=Zally13;37201523]Do you? Because last I recalled it's pretty damn impossible to get an STI without having sex.[/QUOTE] You're missing the point entirely, he was basically implying that everyone has STI's. You can't just "get" a disease, someone has to have it first.
[QUOTE=Jaanus;37200720]Now if only the US stopped handing out antibiotics (in general) like candy.[/QUOTE] They don't. My doctor's office doesn't even give out antibiotics unless it is life threatening not to. I don't even think antibiotics are given for strep anymore, unless it's a small child.
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