Overall, 80% of patients with gonorrhea received ceftriaxone as part of their treatment. But only 45% received the recommended dual therapy. About a third got ceftriaxone alone.
The incidence of dual treatment varied significantly according to the type of site, she said. STD clinics were most likely to administer dual therapy (88%), which was significantly more than hospitals (79%), private providers (71%) or family planning clinics. Men, particularly MSM, were significantly more likely to receive the recommended therapy than were women, regardless of their sexual preference.
"We believe that continued surveillance of treatment practices is important, given the changing antibiotic susceptibility patterns we’re seeing, and the limited alternative treatment options for gonorrhea," she said.
Despite consternation over the creeping threat of resistance, gonorrhea is not nearly as common as it once was, said Mark Stenger, an epidemiologist at the CDC.
"We are in a good epidemiologic moment with gonorrhea rates in the U.S. right now. There have been incredible declines in rates overall."
According to the CDC, the national gonorrhea rate declined by 74% from 1975 to 1997 – largely due to a national gonorrhea control program instituted in the mid-70s, Dr. Stenger said. In 2010, the overall rate was 101 per 100,000 persons, with a total of 309,341 cases diagnosed that year.
"This is the lowest rate since we began recording it," he said.
Healthy People 2020 sets what Mr. Stenger called "realistic goals" for gonorrhea incidence: 257 per 100,000 persons for women and 198 per 100,000 persons for men by the end of that year.
"When we look at incidence among males in the 2011 unpublished data, there are a number of counties that are not meeting that goal right now ... and a number of counties that are. We need to work in those areas that don’t meet it and continue to do whatever we are doing well to keep cases low in the areas that have already met this target."
None of the presenters said they have any financial disclosures.