Gonorrhoea or the clap as it’s known in slang English, is one of the more unfashionable STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).
It presents some very unpleasant symptoms and causes embarrassment. In recent decades it has been surpassed in the news by other STDs like HIV, herpes, genital warts and chlamydia.
There are good reasons why and it is right that these STD’s occupy public attention in the way they do. However, an estimated 820,000 cases of gonorrhoea still occur annually in the United States. According to the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, this estimate is low as people don’t always seek treatment.
If true, this might leave half a million people having sex unaware that they could be infecting someone else!
What’s the problem?
In a word, infertility.
The bacteria that causes gonorrhoea thrives in moist conditions. It can live within the cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, urethra and anus. If left untreated, gonorrhoea can cause Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), which is a serious risk for infertility.
In the US, more than 100,000 women annually suffer from infertility due to PID, so it is a largescale problem.
Regular screening
With this in mind the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommend regular gonorrhoea screening. Annual screening is recommended for all sexually active women less than 25 years of age.
Screening is also recommended for older sexually active women at increased risk of infection, such as those who have:
- A new sex partner
- More than one sex partner
- A sex partner with concurrent partners
- A sex partner who has a sexually transmitted infection
Treatment
Gonorrhoea used to be a fairly simple disease to treat (i.e. if and when people showed up for treatment). A simple course of antibiotics would normally suffice. But, unfortunately, that is no longer the case. In fact, gonorrhoea in recent decades has become resistant to almost every antibiotic in clinical use.
And, right at this moment, there is there is no vaccine that effectively prevents or curtails gonorrhoea.
Peter Rice, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said, “The global spread of multidrug-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae constitutes a public health emergency. Antibiotic treatment options are limited, there is an urgent need for development of a safe and effective vaccine against gonorrhoea.”
Vaccine hopes
Rice’s team at the university have been working on a prototype vaccine, which is showing some promise. He said, “We have developed a gonococcal vaccine candidate. A complex peptide that is both scalable and economically produced to a high degree of purity. The candidate elicits bactericidal (killing) antibodies and is efficacious in a preclinical experimental infection model.”
So far, the vaccine has been tested in an animal model with good results. The vaccine produced a strong immune response, significantly reducing both the level and duration of infection.
Professor Rice said, “This vaccine is the most promising candidate developed in 40 years.” His team now poised to take it forward through the necessary steps of clinical trials and the FDA approval process.
So, let’s clap hands for Professor Rice and his team! We look forward to the introduction of this vaccine into mainstream immunization programmes in the not too distant future.
