The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 28 of 34 · 21 min
Gonorrhea: The Bug That Beat Every Drug (1879–2026)
Gonorrhea has defeated nearly every antibiotic medicine has aimed at it, from sulfa and penicillin to tetracycline, fluoroquinolones, and azithromycin, until only the injectable ceftriaxone remains. There was never an American cure to celebrate. What the federal government built instead is a system for watching: the CDC's Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project, which tracks resistance and rewrites treatment guidelines as each drug fails.
Who's who
- Albert NeisserGerman physician who identified the gonococcus in 1879
Timeline
- 1879Neisser identifies Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- 1986CDC launches the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project
- 2007CDC drops fluoroquinolones from recommended treatment
- 2021CDC drops azithromycin and moves to ceftriaxone alone
- 2022 onwardCeftriaxone-resistant cases reported abroad
Still debated
Ceftriaxone still works for the overwhelming majority of U.S. cases, so claims of imminent untreatability overstate the risk. Resistance percentages shift year to year, and new drugs in development remain hopeful rather than settled.