UAB – News – Oral antibiotic treatment against gonorrhea identified by researchers at UAB

Edward Hook and Jeanne MarrazzoScientists have discovered that a single dose of the oral antibiotic, zoliflodacin, successfully treated uncomplicated bad infections caused by gonorrhea, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study is important because it offers the possibility of a single-dose oral treatment for this infection; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends the injection of the only antibiotic currently available that will reliably treat gonorrhea – ceftriaxone. The trial was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., director of the Infectious Diseases Division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Edward Hook III, M.D., professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, were the authors.

"Since 2013, the rate of gonorrhea in the United States has increased by 67% and it is imperative to discover a reliable and affordable oral treatment option because the bacterium has become increasingly resistant to antibiotics," he said. Marrazzo. "As researchers and clinicians, we are delighted that zoliflodacin offers a viable treatment option for the majority of uncomplicated urobad and rectal gonococcal infections."

In the Phase 2 multi-center trial, 179 randomly badigned men and women with signs and symptoms of uncomplicated, untreated gonorrhea, or who had badual contact with someone with gonorrhea in the past 14 days have been registered. Participants were randomly badigned to a single dose of 2 or 3 g zoliflodacin, or the current standard treatment, at an intramuscular dose of 500 mg ceftriaxone, for comparison.

Microbiological healing at the urobad site was documented in 96% of participants who received 2 g of zoliflodacin, 96% of those who received 3 g of zoliflodacin and 100% who received ceftriaxone. All rectal infections were cured with zoliflodacin doses of 2g and 3g and all who received ceftriaxone.

Zoliflodacin was less effective than treatment with ceftriaxone in the treatment of pharyngeal infections.

"What these results tell us is that, in most cases where gonorrhea is not complicated, zoliflodacin may be a recommended treatment option," Hook said. "Having an oral treatment option available certainly changes the game and has the ability to help gonorrhea patients progress."

In addition to the UAB, the Health Sciences Center of the Louisiana State University, the University of Washington, Indiana University and the University of Washington, DC, are in the University of Washington. University of North Carolina recruited participants.

The UAB Research Program on Sexually Transmitted Diseases has been instrumental in helping to treat people who are at risk of transmitting STIs and at risk of transmitting STIs over the course of many years. badessment of new diagnostic tests and treatment options.