Common eye infection antibiotic tablet may clear up treatment-resistant sex bug (Chloramphenicol)

An oral antibiotic tablet used to treat common eye infections may prove an effective medicine for a sexually transmitted bug that has become resistant to usual recommended treatment, suggest doctors.

They successfully treated a young man with Mycoplasma genitalium (non-gonococcal) urethritis with chloramphenicol.

They describe a case of a young man with recurrent non-gonococcal urethritis symptoms, a common sexually transmitted infection caused by Mycoplasma genitalium that has become increasingly difficult to treat with currently recommended antibiotics.

He was initially treated with a week's course of doxycycline, pending test results to identify the exact bacterial cause of his infection.

The results showed that he was infected with M. genitalium and he was then prescribed another antibiotic, azithromycin. Once the lab analysis revealed that it was a treatment-resistant strain, he was then given a third antibiotic, moxifloxacin.

But five days after completing all the courses of antibiotics, the patient still had symptoms. After considering other options, which were dismissed due to cost, availability, or licensing issues, the authors decided to try chloramphenicol: a 1g tablet taken four times a day for 14 days.

Their decision was prompted by the ready availability of the drug and by test tube evidence showing that chloramphenicol stopped M. genitalium in its tracks.

After 14 days of treatment, the young man's symptoms had cleared up and lab tests confirmed that he no longer had urethritis.

Chloramphenicol is generally well tolerated, with the serious side effects rare (1 in 30,000), they highlight. In the absence of viable effective alternatives, it merits further investigation, they suggest.

"Options for third-line therapies in treatment-resistant M. genitalium are urgently required. Chloramphenicol may have an application in this scenario, and should be considered as a possible drug for investigation," they conclude.

Not a major STI, but it adds to the financial cost of fornication which has been going for decades:

The United States is expected to spend more than $26 billion annually on HIV. (https://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/facts-statistics-infographic)

CDC estimates indicate about 20 percent of the U.S. population – approximately one in five people in the U.S. – had an STI on any given day in 2018, and STIs acquired that year will cost the American healthcare system nearly $16 billion in healthcare costs alone. (https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/prevalence-2020-at-a-glance.htm)

"STIs and their complications amount to about $16 billion annually in direct medical costs. HIV imposes the largest financial burden, costing $12.6 billion in direct medical costs, followed by HPV at $1.7 billion, chlamydia at $156.7 million, gonorrhea at $162.1 million, and syphilis at $39.9 million." (https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/STI-brief.pdf)

"The estimated discounted lifetime cost for persons who become HIV infected at age 35 is $326,500 (60% for antiretroviral medications, 15% for other medications, 25% non-drug costs). [Undiscounted "mean lifetime costs are $597,300 ($4,200)" "Discounted costs are highlighted throughout because they represent economic costs that take into account time preferences of individuals and society and the opportunity cost of funds"] The Lifetime Medical Cost Savings from Preventing HIV in the United States

Costs also can include those for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) [which was] at more than $1,700 for 30 tablets (https://mosaicscience.com/story/hiv-prep-truvada-prevention-sti-std-lgbtqi-gay-condom-pride/).

The cost for PrEP medication is about 2,000 a month, and which "Most health insurance plans, including Medicaid, cover." (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/stds-hiv-safer-sex/hiv-aids/prep) For any Medicaid insured HIV-negative adult 18 years of age or older patients, lab testing and prescription medication costs are 100% covered. (https://www.louisianahealthhub.org/teleprep/)

In 2017, around 61,300 people were actively taking PrEP.

(https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/usa) with the rate of PrEP users per 100,000 population in 2018 being 68. (https://aidsvu.org/local-data/united-states)

The Ready, Set, PrEP program makes PrEP medication available at no cost for qualifying recipients who lack prescription drug coverage, and are tested for HIV with a negative result, and have a prescription for PrEP. (https://www.getyourprep.com/)

EDIT: "the federal government has announced that almost all health insurers must cover the HIV prevention pill, known as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, with no cost sharing — including for the drug itself and, crucially, for clinic visits and lab tests...This means...Truvada or Descovy, the two approved forms of PrEP, should now be totally free for almost all insured individuals....when taken daily, the tablet reduces men’s risk of contracting the virus from sex with other men by more than 99 percent...PrEP use remains largely limited to white gay and bisexual men...Gilead readily provides PrEP for free to lower-income people who lack health insurance, but the pharmaceutical company does not cover the associated clinic visits and lab tests...Since this spring, Truvada has been available in a generic form with a list price as low as $30 per month. By comparison, Descovy’s list price is currently $1,930 and Truvada’s is $1,842.... (https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/prep-hiv-prevention-pill-must-now-totally-free-almost-insurance-plans-rcna1470)

Which raises raises private insurance rates and or taxes for all who pay them.

Such are just part of the financial and societal costs that affect every one to varying degrees due to man disobeying God's program, in which sexual union is only between male and female in marriage. And which provides the stable safe environment for trust and intimacy and for children which are to result, versus fornication as well as artificial contraceptives.

And beyond the financial and societal costs is the spiritual cost, of separation from God now and eternal damnation later due to impenitent sin. For which only repentance and committed faith in the risen Lord Jesus is the solution, for Christ the Son of God was sent by God the Father to be the savior of the world. And who therefore gave Himself for our sins on the cross of His death, paying the price for our forgiveness with His sinless shed blood. Thanks be to God.

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