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Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported notifiable infection in the U.S. During the last 70 years, the causative organism — Neisseria gonorrhoeae — has progressively developed resistance to almost every agent used against it. The resistance has become so ubiquitous that the only remaining first-line treatment option is a third-generation cephalosporin — ceftriaxone — plus either a macrolide (azithromycin) or a tetracycline (doxycycline).
The Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) was established in 1986 to track the emergence of drug resistance in N. gonorrhoeae. Now, researchers have analyzed GISP surveillance data for 2005 through 2010 (35,343 episodes of symptomatic urethral gonorrhea) to compare levels and prevalence of re…