Cases of drug-resistant gonorrhea tripled in China, posing a global threat – Diario La Página – 2024-03-30 02:34:43

A highly antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea bacteria first emerged in China in 2016, and cases of the difficult-to-treat infection have tripled there in just five years, Chinese researchers report.

It’s a warning to the rest of the world, they said. Strains resistant to the first-line treatment, ceftriaxone (and many other antibiotics), “have spread internationally, and cross-border collaborative efforts will be essential to monitor and mitigate their spread,” wrote a team led by Dr. Shao- Chun Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Nanjing.

A single intramuscular injection of ceftriaxone is the first recommended treatment for gonorrhea in both China and the United States. Cases of a ceftriaxone-resistant strain of gonorrhea bacteria remain very rare in the United States, accounting for about 0.2 percent of cases between 2016 and 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). , for its acronym in English) of the USA. But that could change.

According to the latest data, in 2022 the prevalence of ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections in China “was 8.1 percent.” [de los casos]roughly three times the 2017 rate of 2.9 percent,” the new study found.

In such cases, resorting to other antibiotics may be of little use. The Chinese team found that “strains of the bacteria that cause gonorrhea were resistant to other antibiotics with prevalences of up to 97.6 percent, which varied depending on the type of antibiotic.”

The new data comes from monitoring trends in drug-resistant gonorrhea cases in 13 different Chinese provinces between 2017 and 2022. Resistant strains were more prevalent in some provinces than others, the researchers noted. Every year there are more than 82 million new cases of gonorrhea worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the CDC, cases rose to more than 710,000 in 2021 in the United States, a 28% increase from 2017. According to Chen’s team, it will be essential to determine the factors that could be fueling the emergence and spread of gonorrhea strains. resistant to medications, including overuse of antibiotics, which can stimulate dangerous viral mutations.

The findings were published in the March 28 issue of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Disease and infertility The symptoms of gonorrhea can vary, depending on the person and the severity of the infection. According to the CDC, many people with gonorrhea have no symptoms or very mild symptoms that go unnoticed or are mistaken for another infection.

Importantly, women often have no obvious symptoms, while men often do. Untreated gonorrhea in women can lead to serious, long-term complications, such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can cause infertility, chronic abdominal pain, and scarring of the uterus or fallopian tubes.

However, according to the CDC, these are the symptoms of gonorrhea in women:

• White or yellow vaginal discharge from gonorrhea that may be accompanied by a strong odor.
• Pain or burning when urinating.
• Abdominal or pelvic pain
• Bleeding between periods

Unlike women, men almost always experience symptoms and usually seek testing immediately. The CDC They say these are the symptoms of gonorrhea in the men:

• Pain when urinating
• Discharge from the penis, usually white, yellow, or green. Can be thick or thin
• Swollen or painful testicles
• Fever

In men, if untreated, gonorrhea It can cause inflammation in the ducts leading to the testicles, causing infertility. The American Sexual Health Association also reports that inflammation of the prostate and scarring of the urethra are symptoms of gonorrhea not treated in men.