The Threat of Multidrug-Resistant Gonorrhea

Grand Rounds at CDC are a forum in which experts present a series of lectures and bring ideas from diverse perspectives on a public health issue.

"The Growing Threat of Multidrug-Resistant Gonorrhea”
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
1 – 2 p.m., EDT
Watch the live broadcast at either of the following links:

• Broadband Connection
• Slower Connection

This session of Grand Rounds will explore the development of antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a growing public health concern because the United States gonorrhea control strategy relies on effective antibiotic therapy. Since antibiotics were first used for treatment of gonorrhea, N. gonorrhoeae has progressively developed resistance to the antibiotics prescribed to treat it: sulfonamides, penicillin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin. Currently, CDC STD treatment guidelines recommend dual therapy with a cephalosporin antibiotic (ceftriaxone is preferred) and either azithromycin or doxycycline to treat all uncomplicated gonococcal infections among adults and adolescents in the United States.

Given the ability of the gonorrhea bacterium to develop antibiotic resistance, it is critical to continuously monitor gonococcal antibiotic resistance and encourage research and development of new treatment regimens for gonorrhea.

The substantial decline in capability of laboratories to perform essential gonorrhea culture techniques required for antibiotic susceptibility testing represents a major challenge to monitoring emerging antimicrobial resistance. This diminished capacity results from an increased use of newer non-culture-based laboratory technology, such as a diagnostic test called the Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT). Currently, there is no reliable technology that allows for antibiotic susceptibility testing from non-culture specimens. Increased laboratory culture capacity is needed.

Presented By

Edward Hook III, MD
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
University of Alabama, Birmingham
“Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Infections and Antimicrobial Treatment: Public Health Context and Challenges”

William Shafer, PhD
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Emory University
“Molecular Basis of Resistance and Importance of the Laboratory in Detection of Resistance”

Carolyn Deal, PhD
Chief, Sexually Transmitted Diseases Branch
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
“Tools to Combat Multidrug Resistance”

Robert D. Kirkcaldy, MD, MPH
Medical Officer
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC
“What Public Health Can Do Now and in the Future”

Facilitated By

Tanja Popovic, MD, PhD, Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds
John Iskander, MD, MPH, Deputy Scientific Director, Public Health Grand Rounds
Susan Laird, MSN, RN, Communications Manager, Public Health Grand Rounds

More Information

• CDC Antibiotic-Resistance Gonorrhea Website
• CDC Grand Rounds Website