PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
UN: WHO issues new guidelines for treating STIs
New York, US (PANA) - The World Health Organization WHO) on Tuesday issued new guidelines for the treatment of three common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) - chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis.
WHO in a statement obtained by PANA in New York, stated the new guidelines was issued in response to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
WHO's Director of Reproductive Health and Research, Ian Askew, said: "Chlamydia, gonorrhoea 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," the WHO official noted.
According to him, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis are all caused by bacteria and are generally curable with antibiotics.
"However, these STIs often go undiagnosed and are becoming more difficult to treat, with some antibiotics now failing as a result of misuse and overuse," he added.
WHO estimated that, each year, 131 million people are infected with chlamydia, 78 million with gonorrhoea, and 5.6 million with syphilis.
"Gonorrhoea is a common STI that can cause infection in the genitals, rectum, and throat. Antimicrobial resistance has appeared and expanded with every release of new classes of antibiotics for the treatment of gonorrhoea.
"Because of widespread resistance, older and cheaper antibiotics have lost their effectiveness in treatment of the infection," WHO stated.
It urged countries to update their national gonorrhoea treatment guidelines in response to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
It also stressed the need for national health authorities to track the prevalence of resistance to different antibiotics in the strains of gonorrhoea circulating among their population.
The new guidelines also called on health authorities to advise doctors to prescribe whichever antibiotic would be most effective, based on local resistance patterns.
The new WHO guidelines do not recommend quinolones (a class of antibiotic) for the treatment of gonorrhoea due to widespread high levels of resistance.
WHO noted that resistance of these STIs to the effect of antibiotics has increased rapidly in recent years and has reduced treatment options.
Of the three STIs, gonorrhoea has developed the strongest resistance to antibiotics.
It said that, strains of multidrug-resistant gonorrhoea that do not respond to any available antibiotics have already been detected.
Antibiotic resistance in chlamydia and syphilis, though less common, also exists, making prevention and prompt treatment critical.
WHO further said that when left undiagnosed and untreated, the three STIs can result in serious complications and long-term health problems for women, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage, and untreated gonorrhoea and chlamydia can cause infertility in both men and women.
Infection with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis can also increase a person’s risk of being infected with HIV two- to three-fold.
Also, an untreated STI in a pregnant woman increases the chances of stillbirth and newborn death.
-0- PANA AA 30Aug2016
WHO in a statement obtained by PANA in New York, stated the new guidelines was issued in response to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
WHO's Director of Reproductive Health and Research, Ian Askew, said: "Chlamydia, gonorrhoea 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," the WHO official noted.
According to him, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis are all caused by bacteria and are generally curable with antibiotics.
"However, these STIs often go undiagnosed and are becoming more difficult to treat, with some antibiotics now failing as a result of misuse and overuse," he added.
WHO estimated that, each year, 131 million people are infected with chlamydia, 78 million with gonorrhoea, and 5.6 million with syphilis.
"Gonorrhoea is a common STI that can cause infection in the genitals, rectum, and throat. Antimicrobial resistance has appeared and expanded with every release of new classes of antibiotics for the treatment of gonorrhoea.
"Because of widespread resistance, older and cheaper antibiotics have lost their effectiveness in treatment of the infection," WHO stated.
It urged countries to update their national gonorrhoea treatment guidelines in response to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
It also stressed the need for national health authorities to track the prevalence of resistance to different antibiotics in the strains of gonorrhoea circulating among their population.
The new guidelines also called on health authorities to advise doctors to prescribe whichever antibiotic would be most effective, based on local resistance patterns.
The new WHO guidelines do not recommend quinolones (a class of antibiotic) for the treatment of gonorrhoea due to widespread high levels of resistance.
WHO noted that resistance of these STIs to the effect of antibiotics has increased rapidly in recent years and has reduced treatment options.
Of the three STIs, gonorrhoea has developed the strongest resistance to antibiotics.
It said that, strains of multidrug-resistant gonorrhoea that do not respond to any available antibiotics have already been detected.
Antibiotic resistance in chlamydia and syphilis, though less common, also exists, making prevention and prompt treatment critical.
WHO further said that when left undiagnosed and untreated, the three STIs can result in serious complications and long-term health problems for women, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage, and untreated gonorrhoea and chlamydia can cause infertility in both men and women.
Infection with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis can also increase a person’s risk of being infected with HIV two- to three-fold.
Also, an untreated STI in a pregnant woman increases the chances of stillbirth and newborn death.
-0- PANA AA 30Aug2016
