County will switch drug that treats gonorrhea

El Paso County Health officials will follow new federal health recommendations that call for changing how gonorrhea is treated — a move being made because the bacterial infection is becoming resistant to the standard antibiotic drug.

“This has come down from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), this is being endorsed by the state STD program, and this is an appropriate change for us to make,” said Dr. Bernadette Albanese, medical director of the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment.

The Health Department will now use the drug ceftriaxone, which is sold under the brand name Rocephin. The drug, injected into a muscle, will replace a class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, which include Cipro. Fluoroquinolones have been the most common treatment for gonorrhea since the early 1990s.

The CDC’s recommendation came last week, when the agency announced that 7 percent of gonorrhea cases in 2006 were shown to be resistant to fluoroquinolones, typically taken orally in a single dose. Resistance rates in Denver have recently been above 5 percent, according to Denver Public Health.

Untreated, gonorrhea can be a serious health threat. It can lead to chronic abdominal pain, pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.

Gonorrhea cases have risen sharply in El Paso County, from 360 in 2003 to 609 in 2005. Preliminary data for 2006 shows 702 cases, Albanese said.