Due to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new treatment guidelines for three common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
These infections can generally be cured by antibiotics but they are becoming more to treat as some antibiotics are now failing due to “misuse and overuse,” the agency said.
WHO estimates that each year, 131 million people are infected with chlamydia, 78 million with gonorrhoea, and 5.6 million with syphilis.
“Resistance to these STIs to the effect of antibiotics has increased rapidly in recent years and has reduced treatment options. Of the three STIs, gonorrhea has developed the strongest resistance to antibiotics,” WHO posted in its website.
Strains of multidrug-resistant gonorrhea that do not respond to any available antibiotics have been detected.
Antibiotic resistance in chlamydia and syphilis, though less common, also exists, making prevention and prompt treatment critical.
WHO said when left undiagnosed and untreated, these STIs can result to serious complications and long-term health problems for women, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage, and untreated gonorrhea and chlamydia can cause infertility in both men and women.
Infection with chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis can also increase a person’s risk of being infected with HIV two- to three fold while an untreated STI in a pregnant woman increases the chances of stillbirth and newborn death, WHO added.
WHO director of reproductive health and research Ian Askew said “chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are major public health problems worldwide, affecting millions of peoples’ quality of life, causing serious illness and sometimes death.
“The new WHO guidelines reinforce the need to treat these STIs with the right antibiotic, at the right dose, and the right time to reduce their spread and improve sexual and reproductive health,” he said.
“To do that, national health services need to monitor the patterns of antibiotic resistance in these infections within their countries,” Askew added.
source: Philippine Star
Health & Medicine
