Inside The Disgustingly Gloopy Fight Against Super-Gonorrhoea
In 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) surveyed 77 countries and found that 81 per cent had detected gonorrhoea strains resistant to azithromycin, and two-thirds had strains resistant to one or both of the two ‘last resort’ antibiotics. That means there’s little point in just rolling out a new antibiotic like zoliflodacin on its own – gonorrhoea has already developed resistance to penicillin, spectinomycin, tetracycline and now ceftriaxone and azithromycin too. Bacterial cultures can help confirm that an infection actually is gonorrhoea, while sophisticated molecular tests or DNA sequencing can identify whether the bacteria is vulnerable to the usual antibiotics, or whether new ones will have to be used.
Source: www.wired.co.uk