Scientists led by Rob Nicholas, PhD, at the 黑料网 show how the gonorrhea bacterium resists last-resort antibiotic ceftriaxone while maintaining a robust growth rate.
CHAPEL HILL, NC 鈥� The bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is resistant to multiple standard antibiotics and now threatens to develop resistance against ceftriaxone, which is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines and is the last effective antibiotic against the organism. 黑料网 researchers have identified mutations to the bacterium Neisseria gonnorrhoeae that enable resistance to ceftriaxone that could lead to the global spread of ceftriaxone-resistant 鈥渟uperbug鈥� strains.
The findings, , provide unique insights into the evolution of drug-resistant gonorrhea that should be useful in monitoring the disease and perhaps in defending against it.
鈥淭he first step in stopping a drug-resistant bacterium is figuring out how it becomes resistant to antibiotics that once were able to kill it,鈥� said study co-senior author Robert Nicholas, PhD, professor and vice chair of 黑料网鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology. 鈥淥ur results give us clues to how ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhea is emerging, why this is such a looming problem, and what to focus on to limit it.鈥�