The standard recommended cure for gonorrhea has been a combination antibiotic that suppresses the bacteria causing the disease. There were a very few cases that could not be cured by this antibiotic. But recently there has been increased number of cases of gonorrhea that cannot be cured by the standard prescribed antibiotics. Neisseria gonorrhea has already shown resistance to several antibiotics. The present day cure has been devised after a tedious research on tackling the bacteria.
Why is the bacterium not responding to the antibiotics?
The bacteria had already adapted and resisted antibiotics like tetracycline, penicillin and more. Fluoroquinolone resistance exhibited by the bacteria, lead to the formulation of the present day antibiotics for treating gonorrhea. The bacterium is continually evolving. It has adapted to the antibiotics.
There has been intensive research going on to study this bacterium. There have been tests conducted to study the reaction of this bacterium to the antibiotics ingested. Scientists have recently observed an increase in the number of cases where the bacteria fight against the drugs.
The underlying issue:
In the recent days, not only Neisseria gonorrhoeae but also several other strains of the bacterium have shown resistance to antibiotics. The whole “disease-free” days will cease to exist if this continues. The advanced lifestyle has resulted in more advanced diseases and more advanced pathogens.
When an infection persists, the bacterium tries fighting the antibiotics. In course of time, the bacterium evolves and adapts to the treatment. It starts fighting the drugs. It sometimes even succeeds in destroying the antibiotics. This is when the real issue starts. The disease then has no cure anymore. This is at least until the scientists figure out a new strain of antibiotic to tackle the bacteria.
Scientists fear that the gonorrhea-causing bacterium is becoming stronger. The new strains are showing a resistance to the present antibiotics prescribed. This is the reason for the increase in the number of cases of untreated gonorrhea.
Antibiotics lead to the modern medicines that began to save lives. The deaths due to untreated infections came down only because of the antibiotics. If the bacteria learn to outsmart the antibiotics, then it would be back to the old days. Minor infections might pose higher risks and might even turn out to be fatal.
What do the experts say?
Scientists are not very sure about how long the present, antibiotics combination can be prescribed for gonorrhea. If there are new strains fighting even the toughest antibiotics, then there might eventually be no cure. Scientists might run out of options to formulate an antibiotic against this bacterium.
The research on the sensitivity of the bacterium to the drug formulated requires sufficient culture media. Only in the accurate culture medium would the study be accurate.
What is the solution?
The only solution currently suggested is prevention. Though the bacteria haven’t fully outlived and won the fight against the drugs, it might happen soon. The effectiveness of the drug would soon be deemed null. So the key is to stay cautious and prevent the disease rather than take chances.