Gonococcal antimicrobial resistance: 80 years in the making
David Speers
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
UWA Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6000, Australia, Email: David.Speers@health.wa.gov.au
Microbiology Australia 40(2) 57-62 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA19017
Published: 18 April 2019
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance has been a problem for the treatment of gonorrhoea since the introduction of sulfa drugs in the 1930s. The gonococcus has a remarkable ability to obtain the genetic elements required to develop resistance and for these resistant strains to then widely disseminate. Many decades of antibiotic monotherapy have seen the introduction of a number of antibiotic classes herald a promising new era of treatment only to subsequently fail due to resistance development. The world is now faced with the prospect of extensively resistant Neisseria gonorrhoea and requires a coordinated action plan to detect and treat these resistant strains.
References
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