Ceftriaxone treatment failure of pharyngeal gonorrhoea verified by international recommendations, Sweden, July 2010

• Published in: Euro surveillance : bulletin européen sur les maladies transmissibles Vol. 16; no. 6; p. 5
• Main Authors: Unemo, M, Golparian, D, Hestner, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sweden Centre Europeen pour la Surveillance Epidemiologique du SIDA (European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS) 10.02.2011
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibiotics; Ceftriaxone - therapeutic use; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Failure; Gonorrhea; Gonorrhea - diagnosis; Gonorrhea - drug therapy; Gonorrhea - microbiology; Heterosexuality; Humans; Male; Medical treatment; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - drug effects; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - genetics; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - isolation & purification; Pharmacology; Pharyngeal Diseases - diagnosis; Pharyngeal Diseases - drug therapy; Pharyngeal Diseases - microbiology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sweden; Treatment Failure; Urinary tract diseases; Urogenital system; Young Adult; Sweden
• ISSN: 1560-7917; 1025-496X; 1560-7917
• DOI: 10.2807/ese.16.06.19792-en

This report describes one case of verified treatment failure of pharyngeal gonorrhoea using ceftriaxone in Sweden. Previous reports described verified treatment failure of urogenital gonorrhoea using the internationally recommended first-line drug cefixime, but not with ceftriaxone, the last remaining option for empirical treatment of gonorrhoea. Enhanced awareness of clinical failures, pharmacodynamic considerations, follow-up and test of cure, adherence to appropriate case management and treatment guidelines as well as verification/falsification of presumed clinical treatment failures should be emphasised worldwide.