THURSDAY, April 3, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Ciprofloxacin resistance may be tied to increased gonorrhea incidence, according to a report published in the April issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Harrell W. Chesson, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed ciprofloxacin resistance data and gonorrhea incidence data to examine the possible effect of antimicrobial drug resistance on gonorrhea incidence at the population level. The authors utilized the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project as well as city-level gonorrhea incidence rates from surveillance data for 17 cities from 1991 to 2006.
The researchers found that there was a strong positive association between ciprofloxacin resistance and gonorrhea incidence rates at the city level during the study period. This association was consistent with mathematical model predictions in which resistance to treatment can increase gonorrhea incidence rates through increased duration of infection.
"These findings highlight the possibility of future increases in gonorrhea incidence caused by emerging cephalosporin resistance," the authors write.
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