Antibiotic-Resistant
Syphilis Spreading
A fast-spreading mutant strain of syphilis has proved resistant
to the antibiotic pills that are offered to some patients as
an alternative to painful penicillin shots. Since the late 1990s,
doctors and public health clinics have been giving azithromycin
to some syphilis patients because the long-acting antibiotic
pill was highly effective and easy to use.
After syphilis
sores disappear, the disease can silently attack the brain and
cause dementia, paralysis and death. Penicillin has long been
the recommended treatment for syphilis. But it must be given
in two buttocks injections much more painful than typical shots,
because a large amount of the solution must be forced into the
muscle.
Syphilis
decreased in the United States through the 1990s, then climbed
19 percent from 2000 to 2003 to about 7,100 cases, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC attributed
the spike to a twelvefold rise in cases among gay and bisexual
men, many of whom are also infected with the AIDS virus.
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STD Information
The
Holistic Wisdom Corporation