New guidelines by WHO for treatment of STIs

Strains of multidrug-resistant gonorrhoea that do not respond to any available antibiotics have been detected, World Health Organisation (WHO) said , as it urged national health authorities for updating their treatment for this common sexually transmitted infection (STI).

shreerupa

Shreerupa Mitra-Jha | September 1, 2016 | New Delhi


#antibiotics   #gonorrhoea   #WHO   #STIs  


The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidelines for the treatment of three common STIs - chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis - as they are becoming more and more resistant to known treatments due to the over use and misuse of antibiotics. 

Gonorrhoea, that affects the genitals, rectum, and throat, has developed the strongest resistance of the three STIs with older antibiotics failing to treat the infection. WHO has directed countries not to use quinolones (a class of antibiotic) that has become resistant due to widespread use. The UN health agency has not prescribed any class of antibiotic leaving it to national authorities to track and understand local strains and advise doctors whichever pattern would be the most productive. 
 
The new WHO guideline, on the other hand, “strongly recommends” a single dose of benzathine penicillin - an intramuscular injection of antibiotics -which is more effective than oral doses to cure syphilis. 
 
Syphilis is spread by contact with a sore on the genitals, anus, rectum, lips or mouth, or from mother to child during pregnancy that caused an estimated 1,43,000 stillbirths, 62,000 neonatal deaths and 44,000 low-birth-weight babies globally in 2012. 
 
Benzathine penicillin is an essential medicine that has been in short supply for several years.
 
Chlamydia is the most common type of infection that usually occurs with gonorrhea. 
 
There are three new strategies that the WHO recommends: new guidelines for gonorrhea treatment, elimination of mother to child transmission of syphilis, and increasing the coverage of HPV and Hepatitis-B vaccine. 
 
The last guidelines were issued by WHO in 2003. 
 
STIs represent a very large burden not only in terms of the infection but also the consequences of the infections. In 2014, it was a staggering 1 million new cases of infection everyday, which is a total 357 million new cases of these curable infections. 
 
It is estimated that, each year, 131 million people are infected with chlamydia, 78 million with gonorrhoea, and 5.6 million with syphilis.
 
It affects people across age-groups and gender and is particularly harmful for infants – there is a high possibility that infants will be still born if the mother has an untreated STI. It is also the cause of cervical cancer and increases the probability of contracting HIV by two to three times. 
 
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. To do that, national health services need to monitor the patterns of antibiotic resistance in these infections within their countries,” said Ian Askew, director of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO in a press statement.
 
The new guidelines recommended in the in the Global Health Sector Strategy for STIs (2016-2021) were endorsed by governments at the World Health Assembly in May 2016.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Green cities: A pathway to sustainability

As the world observes Earth Day on April 22, the imperative for sustainable urban development has never been more pressing. Urban areas contribute approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UN-Habitat Report, 2023). In India, the urban population is projected to reach 800 million by 2050 (

A unique way of looking at nature, at people, at life itself

Another Day in Landour: Looking Out from My Window By Ruskin Bond HarperCollins, 220 pages, Rs 399 Landour is a q

‘Better than the entire world’: Here’s the ‘India book’ for ages

The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India By Gopalkrishna Gandhi Aleph Books, 624 pages, Rs 999 Vet

Why the youth’s ‘affair’ with stock market is usually tragic

Nine out of 10 individual traders in the equity Futures and Options (F&O) segment have incurred net losses, according to a recent SEBI study. What’s even more striking is that a significant portion of these traders are young individuals – students, early professionals and first-time earners

Why recognizing unpaid work makes sense

Across the globe, unpaid domestic and caregiving work remains an unseen yet essential contributor to economic and social well-being. Women, in particular, dedicate significant hours to household tasks and caregiving, yet this labour remains excluded from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculations, leading t

News broadcast needs to reinvent, innovate: Sudhir Chaudhary

Popular news anchor and veteran journalist Sudhir Chaudhary says the news broadcast industry has not reinvented itself in the last 20 years, leading to news consumption gradually shifting to other platforms. Unlike social media influencers with millions of followers, there are no stars in the news industry

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now



Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter