newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A team of international scientists has announced that gonorrhea is new and improved in Japan. According to Dr. Magnus Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria at Orebro University Hospital, Sweden, a mutated strain of the sexually transmitted diseases could morph the once easily treatable STD into a worldwide pandemic.

The new variant of the bacterium that causes Gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhea, also known as H041, is resistance to all cephalosporin-class oral antibiotics currently being used, UPI reported. Unemo, who made the announcement during the 19th conference of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research in Quebec City, says that while it's too soon to tell if the new descent has become widespread, the manifestation and spread of H041, with its proven resistance to the only oral antibiotics ever used to treat the STD, has raised concerns amongst physicians worldwide.

**See More on Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea (ARG) **

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention utilizes a dual therapy of cephalosporins to treat gonorrhea. Doxycycline, frequently used to treat acne and rosacea, as well as syphilis and pelvic inflammatory disease, is a member of the tetracycline family, and a part of the CDC's current therapeutic approach to treating Gonorrhea. CDC officials say should the new strain become prevalent in the U.S., it would severely limit treatment options, TwitterTrendTopics reported.

Dr. Edward Hook, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told MSNBC health experts are facing a serious issue. Dr. Gail Bolan, director of STD prevention at the CDC said the report has doctors in fear that the Japanese strain of Gonorrhea will make its way to the U.S. eventually, and hope it's a few years away so doctors have time to identify other treatments." CBS News reported.

A report by the Journal of Urology stated that in an effort to monitor drug resistance in H041, several national and international programs "have become functional." The report further stated that this fluoroquinolone resistant strain of Gonorrhea shows a high level of resistance to azithromycin, another antibiotic within the Cephalosporins family, used to treat Gonorrhea as well as middle ear infections, strep throat, and pneumonia.

A study in the July 8th issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report cautioned doctors to be conscious of local trends of cephalosporin antibiotic resistance H041, and report culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in any patient with persistent gonorrhea after treatment to their local or state health department. The Journal reported that at this time, injectable antibiotics, sepctinomycin and ceftriaxone, are the most reliable and effective agent against H041. While cases of ceftriaxone resistance have been reported, they are rare.

Bacteria.eMedTv.com reports that most patients tolerate ceftriaxone well. Minor side effects, which require little or no treatment by a healthcare provider, include diarrhea; an increase in liver enzymes; and pain, warmth, and/or minor swelling at the injection site. Serious side effects include blood in stools, unexplained bleeding or bruising, and difficulty breathing or swallowing.