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> I know last time I had to be treated for it (3ish years ago) I remember my doctor mentioning concerns about it and this being why they were attacking it both

> I know last time I had to be treated for it (3ish years ago) I remember my doctor mentioning concerns about it and this being why they were attacking it both with a pill and a shot. Even that is no longer the course of treatment for gonorrhea. Now it's a single shot (no pill). The protocol was updated in Dec 2020 due to... increased antibiotic resistance. You're correct that we knew that this was coming. Unfortunately, much like many other societal problems, knowing about it doesn't actually translate into the necessary actions to address it.

nerdjon 4y ago
I did not know that the treatment plan changed. I guess it makes sense, it sounded like at the time the pill was almost a "just in case" but it really was the shot. But that was me interpreting (and remembering) what the doctor said so not really backing that by anything. But thanks for letting me know about that. Not sure how I missed that news.
- chimeracoder 4y ago
  > I did not know that the treatment plan changed. I guess it makes sense, it sounded like at the time the pill was almost a "just in case" but it really was the shot. That's correct - the injection was paired with an oral macrolide as a sort of backup. However, macrolides were already not very effective against gonorrhea, and that's gotten worse. Meanwhile, the primary treatment for chlamydia used to be a macrolide, but now resistance is high enough that it's been dropped entirely from chlamydia treatment and replaced with a week-long course of doxycycline. It's a tough balance, because overuse of antibiotics causes resistance, but so does ineffective treatment, and in this case there are two different bacteria that often present as coinfections, both of which are frequently asymptomatic, and both of which are impossible to distinguish from each other from symptomatic presentation (when symptomatic).

nerdjon 4y ago

I did not know that the treatment plan changed. I guess it makes sense, it sounded like at the time the pill was almost a "just in case" but it really was the shot. But that was me interpreting (and remembering) what the doctor said so not really backing that by anything. But thanks for letting me know about that. Not sure how I missed that news.

chimeracoder 4y ago
> I did not know that the treatment plan changed. I guess it makes sense, it sounded like at the time the pill was almost a "just in case" but it really was the shot. That's correct - the injection was paired with an oral macrolide as a sort of backup. However, macrolides were already not very effective against gonorrhea, and that's gotten worse. Meanwhile, the primary treatment for chlamydia used to be a macrolide, but now resistance is high enough that it's been dropped entirely from chlamydia treatment and replaced with a week-long course of doxycycline. It's a tough balance, because overuse of antibiotics causes resistance, but so does ineffective treatment, and in this case there are two different bacteria that often present as coinfections, both of which are frequently asymptomatic, and both of which are impossible to distinguish from each other from symptomatic presentation (when symptomatic).