Duration of Therapy in Management of Gonorrhea

Abstract

GONOCOCCAL URETHRITIS is the third most frequently reported communicable disease in the US. Approximately a quarter million cases are reported annually in the US alone and estimates of the true incidence range from five to ten times this number.¹ The use of penicillin has not resulted in a decrease in the overall incidence of gonorrhea, but it has been highly effective in the treatment of the individual case. Increasingly frequent reports of failures with penicillin therapy have appeared in the medical literature. Although it is recognized that the possibility of unadmitted cases of reinfection complicates the evaluation of these presumed failures, the increasing rate of infection by penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been repeatedly demonstrated. In an attempt to maintain effective treatment of gonorrhea both the dose and the duration of therapy have been increased. The value of increasing the dose of penicillin to control relatively penicillin-resistant strains