Fridae

Health officials in the United States now no longer recommends antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin) as a treatment for the sexually transmitted disease, which can leave both men and women infertile and put people at higher risk of getting the AIDS virus. According to a press statement issued on April 15, the recommended options for treating gonorrhoea - the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the US after chlamydia - are now limited to a single class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins.

Found in the penis, rectum, mouth, urethra, throat and/or vagina, gonorrhoea can be spread via sexual contact: specifically anal, oral or vaginal contact, one can become infected without penetration. Although gonorrhoea's spread is preventable through consistent and proper use of condoms, most men and women don't use condoms for oral sex or during foreplay, when a lot of rubbing can occur and the discharge can seep into your anus, urethra or vagina (which quickly spreads into the uterus and fallopian tubes).

Experts also say that because many people don't have obvious symptoms, they can unknowingly spread it to others.

Between men, gonorrhoea is transmitted primarily through unprotected anal intercourse and giving/receiving oral sex. The rise in gonorrhoea rates among gay men indicates an increase in high-risk sexual behaviour.

"Gonorrhoea has now joined the list of other superbugs for which treatment options have become dangerously few," said Dr. Henry Masur, president of the Infectious Disease Society of America. "To make a bad problem even worse, we're also seeing a decline in the development of new antibiotics to treat these infections."

"That leaves us with a single class of highly effective antibiotics," said Dr. John Douglas Jr., director of the CDC's division of STD prevention. Other experts called the situation perilous.
"We are running out of options to treat this disease," added Douglas, who said there are "no new drugs for gonorrhoea in the drug development pipeline."

Previously, CDC recommended against fluoroquinolones to treat drug-resistant gonorrhoea among men who have sex with men and in certain states, including California and Hawaii where most of these cases were turning up.

According to a 2006 report by Aidsmap.com, gonorrhoea is found more frequently in the throat than any other site in gay men. It advised gay men to have regular throat swabs to check for infection with gonorrhoea after a study conducted in San Francisco found that 6% of gay men had the sexually transmitted infection in their throat, usually without any symptoms. The study, which is published in the November 15th edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases also found that the throat was the most common site for gonorrhoea infection in gay men and that younger age and a greater number of oral sex partners were significantly associated with gonorrhoea of the throat.