heterosexuals - both women and men. Surprisingly, having
rectal chlamydia didn't relate either to whether men
used condoms or the number of partners they had. This implies chlamydia
can be spread by contact other than penetrative sex.
Resistant gonorrhoea up in UK
Up to two-thirds of all gonorrhoea in the UK may not be cleared up by
standard therapy, the IUSTI conference heard.
A survey of 30 UK GUM clinics in 2000 found that more than 10 per cent
of people were totally resistant to the standard penicillin treatment
and four per cent were resistant to the more modern antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
Another study found that a lot of gonorrhoea is somewhat resistant to
both drugs, meaning that standard treatment regimes may not completely
clear the infection.
Although viral infections like herpes are even more common, gonorrhoea
is the second most common bacterial STI in the UK.
Fewer infections on injectable heroin
One of the reasons for weaning heroin users off needles with oral methadone
linctus has been the presumption that injecting heroin causes more skin
abscesses. But a Swiss study has found that users prescribed pure heroin
and sterile equipment suffered fewer infections than those on a standard
methadone programme. Dr Stefano Bassetti told the 42nd ICAAC Conference
that only 22 per cent of injectors prescribed heroin had Staphylococcus
aureus infections, the most frequent cause of abscesses, compared with
43 per cent given methadone.
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