Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are an extremely important topic to be discussed to adolescents and adults of all ages. Prevention is key to not only stop the spread of these diseases, but also to further prevent and protect people from irreversible complications that can occur when these diseases are left untreated. Also, as we have been discussing in class, the misuse or overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance and this can and is happening with bacterial sexually transmitted diseases. On January 6, 2020, Oxford Academic published an article under the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal that investigates the use of vaccines in protecting against gonorrhea. The article explains that there is evidence that two meningococcal vaccines have been observed to protect against gonorrhea and that there is development of a gonococcal vaccine. These vaccines are very important because strains of gonorrhea are becoming antibiotic resistant so prevention is extremely essential. This article also assessed whether these vaccines would be able to fit the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of decreasing gonorrhea incidence by 90% from 2018 to 2030. Through their research this article found that even partially protective vaccines can decrease incidence rates of gonorrhea and help to combat antibiotic resistance through prevention.
Antibiotic resistant gonorrhea is also being researched at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. An article published in October of 2019 researches the use of ciprofloxacin as treatment for gonorrhea. This study was conducted in Baltimore, Maryland on 501 male participants. The study found that 32.4% of the participants strains of gonorrhea were resistant to ciprofloxacin and this antibiotic has not been used to treat gonorrhea due to this large amount of resistance. This article however, proposes that the reintroduction of ciprofloxacin as a treatment option could help decrease resistance to other antibiotics used to treat gonorrhea such as ceftriaxone and potentially increase effectiveness of this drug. There is risk that an emergence of more antibiotic resistance bacteria can occur through this type of research.
The Washington Post published an article in October of 2019 reporting that sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea are at the highest rates they have ever been in the United States. Another article, published in November of 2019 in the Sexually Transmitted Diseases journal, researched the influence of an enhanced partner notification strategy on the number of reported and controlled cases of gonorrhea in Nova Scotia, Canada. Gonorrhea can be seen to show no symptoms in women and may be one of the reasons why incidence increased after the enhanced partner notification so the spread of gonorrhea can be stopped and the partners can also be treated. They found a 2.9% increase in the number of cases from pre-intervention to post intervention. The findings from this article are so surprising because all around the world we see stigmas surrounding STDs and this stigma is so harmful to everyone because it only increases the spread of the diseases. It does this by causing people to not want to notify their partners that they have tested positive for a disease and that leaves the person to further spread the disease. Interventions, such as the one in this study in Canada, should be implemented everywhere to protect everyone and ensure better overall sexual health.
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