New Information On How Gonorrhea Became A Superbug

Chicago, Illinois -

In recent years, medical scientists have been dealing with a’ drug-resistant gonorrhea strain that has been referred to as a 'superbug'. The bacterium has been found to resist ceftriaxone, a last-resort antibiotic and continues to grow robustly. Researchers in the University of North Carolina Health Care have identified Neisseria gonorrhoeae mutations that are resistant to ceftriaxone and could cause a global resistant superbug.

According to the research, “The bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is resistant to multiple standard antibiotics and now threatens to develop resistance against ceftriaxone, which is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines and is the last effective antibiotic against the organism. UNC School of Medicine researchers have identified mutations to the bacterium Neisseria gonnorrhoeae that enable resistance to ceftriaxone that could lead to the global spread of ceftriaxone-resistant "superbug" strains.”

The findings of the research delve into the study of the mutation with an effort of understanding the infection and development of treatment to fight it.

According to MeetPositives.com, “Gonorrhea is one of the most reported STD in the US. A drug resistant strain is a big problem that needs to be monitored and new treatments developed. Since gonorrhea mostly has silent symptoms or does not show any symptoms at all, spreading globally might not take a long time for the superbug. Apart from a treatment development, it is important for people to get tested and practice safe sex to reduce the spread of this infection," said MeetPositives.com founder Jack Lombardi.

In the research, Robert Nicholas, PhD, professor and vice chair of UNC's Department of Pharmacology collaborated with the laboratory of Ann E. Jerse, PhD, at the Pentagon's Uniformed Services University in Maryland to find out why the infection is resistant to antibiotics. “Robert Nicholas and his colleagues are working to understand better how mutant AcnB boosts growth of N. gonorrhoeae and what other growth-restoring mutations exist in the lab-evolved superbug strains. At the same time, the researchers are on the lookout for reports of similar dangerous mutations in strains recovered from patients around the world.”