Epidemiological trends of antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea in the United Kingdom
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Whittles, Lilith
White, PJ
Paul, John
Didelot, Xavier
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually-transmitted bacterial infections, globally and in the United Kingdom. The levels of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea reported in recent years represent a critical public health issue. From penicillins to cefixime, the gonococcus has become resistant to all antibiotics that have been previously used against it, in each case only a matter of years after introduction as a first-line therapy. After each instance of resistance emergence, the treatment recommendations have required revision, to the point that only a few antibiotics can reliably be prescribed to treat infected individuals. Most countries, including the UK, now recommend that gonorrhoea be treated with a dual therapy combining ceftriaxone and azithromycin. While this treatment is still currently effective for the vast majority of cases, there are concerning signs that this will not always remain the case, and there is no readily apparent alternative. Here, we review the use of antibiotics and epidemiological trends of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea from surveillance data over the past 15 years in the UK and describe how surveillance could be improved.
Date Issued
2018-09
Date Acceptance
2018-07-11
Citation
Antibiotics, 2018, 7 (3)
ISSN
2079-6382
Publisher
MDPI AG
Journal / Book Title
Antibiotics
Volume
7
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Sponsor
Medical Research Council (MRC)
National Institute for Health Research
Grant Number
MR/K010174/1B
HPRU-2012-10080
Subjects
antibiotic resistance
azithromycin
cephalosporins
gonorrhoea
sexually-transmitted bacterial infections
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
60
Date Publish Online
2018-07-13