Gonorrhea On Track To Becoming Untreatable
The bacteria is becoming resistant to the only antibiotics that still cure the sexually transmitted disease. In other news, Florida health officials are cautioning residents about a deadly flesh-eating bacteria, and scientists want to track city rats to better understand their potential threat to public health.
Stat:
Gonorrhea May Soon Become Resistant To All Antibiotics And Untreatable
Gonorrhea may soon become untreatable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the wily Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria may be developing resistance to the only two antibiotics left that can cure the sexually transmitted disease. The drugs, azithromycin and ceftriaxone, are used in combination to treat gonorrhea, a strategy experts hope will prolong the period during which these critical drugs will work. (Branswell, 7/14)
USA Today:
How To Avoid Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Warm waters and one case of a potentially deadly flesh destroying bacteria in Brevard County have prompted Florida health officials to urge the public to avoid exposure to the rare bacterial infection. Brevard's warning came two days after state health officials in Volusia County similarly urged residents and tourists to take precautions to prevent exposure to Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially deadly saltwater bacteria that has killed four people so far this year in Florida. (Waymer, 7/15)
Stat:
Are NYC Rats Disease ‘Sponges’? Scientists Want To Track Them To Find Out
But despite how commonplace rats are in cities around the world, they remain in many ways mysterious, including in the potential threat they pose to public health, experts say. ... Rats — and rodents more broadly — aren’t responsible for nearly as many disease cases or deaths as, say, mosquitoes. But they can transmit fevers, a type of meningitis, and, yes, plague. The diseases are spread through bites and scratches, pathogens in the animals’ feces and urine, and via fleas. (Joseph, 7/14)
