Trial identifies new drug combination for treatment resistant gonorrhoea

The combination of gentamicin plus azithromycin is nearly as effective as the standard treatment of ceftriaxone plus azithromycin for genital gonorrhoea, showed results from the first randomised trial1 to identify a new option for the growing number of patients with gonorrhoea that is resistant to current first line treatment.

“Our current antibiotic treatment for gonorrhoea is beginning to fail and experience with previous drugs strongly suggests that this could become a widespread problem,” said lead author Jonathan Ross, from Birmingham, UK. Two thirds of the 77 countries taking part in a World Health Organisation surveillance programme in 2017 reported emergence of gonococci resistant to cephalosporins including …