3 November 2023

A new antibiotic has proven as effective as the last remaining recommended treatment for gonorrhea, helping to assuage mounting fears among public health experts about the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the sexually transmitted infection.

Gonorrhea is the second most common STI in the U.S. and has developed resistance to all antibiotics used to treat it, except for the recommended combined therapy of an injection of the antibiotic ceftriaxone with one dose of azithromycin pills. In recent years, ominous reports have suggested that this antibiotic arsenal might not maintain its robust effectiveness against the fast-evolving pathogen for much longer.

Read the article