Belligerent bugs make Korean debut.Belligerent bug makes Korean debut Neisseria Neisseria /Neis·se·ria/ (ni-ser´e-ah) a genus of gram-negative bacteria (family Neisseriaceae), including N. gonorrhoe´ae, the etiologic agent of gonorrhea, N. meningi´tidis, a prominent cause of meningitis and the specific etiologic agent of meningococcal meningitis. gonorrhoeae, the sexually transmitted bacterium that causes gonorrhea gon , has pulled another fast one on the medical community. The bug has a history of developing resistance to antibiotics: against sulfonamides sulfonamide /sul·fon·amide/ (sul-fon´ah-mid) a compound containing the sbondSO2NH2 group. The sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs, are derivatives of sulfanilamide, competitively inhibit folic acid synthesis in microorganisms, and formerly were bacteriostatic against a wide variety of bacteria and some protozoa. Because many microbes are now resistant, sulfonamides have largely been supplanted by more effective and less toxic antibiotics. in the 1930s, against low-dose penicillin in the 1950s and '60s, and against high doses of penicillin, tetracycline  or·rhe al, gonor·rheic adj.1. any of a group of related broad-spectrum antibiotics, isolated from species of Streptomyces or produced semisynthetically. 2. a semisynthetic antibiotic produced semisynthetically from chlortetracycline, having the same wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity as other members of the tetracycline group; used as the base or the hydrochloride salt. and a number of other drugs in the 1970s. Now, after only three years of exposure to the current front-line antibiotic, spectinomycin spectinomycin /spec·ti·no·my·cin/ (spek?ti-no-mi´sin) an antibiotic derived from Streptomyces spectabilis, used as the hydrochloride salt in the treatment of gonorrhea., strains of spectinomycin-resistant N. gonorrhoeae are turning up among U.S. military personnel in Korea. "The prevalence of spectinomycin-resistant strains . . . is alarming, particularly since it occurred over such a short period,' report John W. Boslego and his colleagues in the July 30 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE. Boslego's team, which includes researchers from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the University of Maryland in College Park, calculates that the spectinomycin failure rate among U.S. servicemen in Korea may already exceed 11 percent. They warn that the increasing emergence of resistant strains "places our current armamentarium ar·ma·men·tar·i·ums or ar·ma·men·tar·i·a (- of simple, safe, effective and inexpensive antibiotics in further jeopardy.'  - ) The complete equipment of a physician or medical institution, including drugs, books, supplies, and instruments. Moreover, Boslego says, the problem will not stay on the other side of the world. Microbial resistance patterns in U.S. military personnel abroad often serve as bellwethers of pending microbiological trends at home. Next line of defense: a powerful new antibiotic called ceftriaxone ceftriaxone /cef·tri·ax·one/ (cef?tri-ak´son) a semisynthetic, ß–resistant, third-generation cephalosporin effective against a wide range of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, used as the sodium salt. cef·tri·ax·one (s. |
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