Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Strain In Hawaii A First For U.S.

Gonorrhea is the second-most common STD in the United States. In 2014, there were more than 350,000 reported cases of the infection. If not treated, the disease can cause serious health problems including infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and life-threatening ectopic pregnancy in women.

Katz told HuffPost that over the years, gonorrhea has grown resistant to everything thrown its way ? penicillin, tetracycline, cefixime, the list goes on.

So far, no case in the U.S. has proven untreatable by the CDC-recommended treatment, which includes a single shot of ceftriaxone and an oral dose of azithromycin. The first documented treatment failure in the world occurred in the United Kingdom in June.

Katz said Hawaii is on the front-lines of detecting antibiotic resistant gonorrhea strains, both because of its intensive gonorrhea surveillance testing and its geographic location between Asia and mainland U.S.A. 

“We believe that a lot of resistance to gonorrhea originates in Asia,” he said. “We historically have identified the resistance of gonorrhea strains earlier.”

Mermin said that the Hawaii cluster is a perfect example of the system working as it’s supposed to. 

“Front-line providers diagnosed and treated infections, public health officials quickly detected resistance, and we were able to use cutting-edge lab technologies to track its spread and treat people who were linked to the cluster,” he said in a statement. “A strong STD prevention and control infrastructure is critical to ensure we’re ready to confront drug resistance not just in Hawaii, but nationwide.”

Although the current recommended treatment is still effective, health officials are looking to the development of new tools in the fight against gonorrhea. 

At the CDC’s STD Prevention Conference this week, researchers from Louisiana State University presented data on an experimental oral antibiotic, ETX0914, which has been shown in clinical trials to be a safe and effective treatment.