The current gonorrhoea meds might stop working – when will newer ones make it to SA?

Two new antibiotics offer hope for people with gonorrhoea that is resistant to currently available drugs. Yet, it might be years before the people who need these medicines can get them. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks why these new antibiotics are important and what needs to happen before they can be used in South Africa.

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New drug offers hope against untreatable gonorrhoea

Newly announced results of a pivotal phase 3 trial have demonstrated the effectiveness of a new treatment for gonorrhoea. The medicine, zoliflodacin, is the first new drug developed to treat gonorrhoea in over 30 years. More than half of the 930 patients in the trial were from South Africa. Catherine Tomlinson reports.

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Antibiotic-resistant bugs claim over 200 000 infants globally per year, finds major study

A landmark global observational study found that many neonates get life-threatening bloodstream infections, or sepsis, and are dying because the antibiotics used to treat them are not effective. Sepsis affects up to 3 million babies a year globally and the study authors estimate that 214 000 newborns die every year from sepsis that has become antibiotic resistant – mainly in low- to middle-income countries. Adele Baleta reports.

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