Preventing Resistance in Gonorrhoea (PReGo) Study

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), the causative agent of gonorrhoea, has developed resistance toevery antibiotic used against it and could become untreatable. It is also unknown why thisresistance almost invariably first occurs in core-groups. This project aims to simultaneouslybetter understand why resistance usually emerges in core-groups and develop new modalitiesto prevent the emergence of resistance. Antibiotics drive resistance and thus we will start bydeveloping two alternatives to antibiotics to treat and prevent NG infection – bacteriophagesand chlorhexidine mouthwash. For the first time, bacteriophages that are active against bothcirculating NG and extensively resistant NG will be developed. We will assess if chlorhexidinemouthwash can be used to treat and prevent pharyngeal NG and other sexually transmitteddiseases. In addition, we will evaluate if an alternative antibiotic combination to that currentlyused may be less likely to stimulate resistance in NG. We will then use the data we collectfrom these studies to model the probability of emergence of resistance in various scenarioswith the ultimate objective of using the findings to minimize the probability of this resistanceemerging.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), the causative agent of gonorrhoea, has developed resistance toevery antibiotic used against it and could become untreatable. It is also unknown why thisresistance almost invariably first occurs in core-groups. This project aims to simultaneouslybetter understand why resistance usually emerges in core-groups and develop new modalitiesto prevent the emergence of resistance. Antibiotics drive resistance and thus we will start bydeveloping two alternatives to antibiotics to treat and prevent NG infection – bacteriophagesand chlorhexidine mouthwash. For the first time, bacteriophages that are active against bothcirculating NG and extensively resistant NG will be developed. We will assess if chlorhexidinemouthwash can be used to treat and prevent pharyngeal NG and other sexually transmitteddiseases. In addition, we will evaluate if an alternative antibiotic combination to that currentlyused may be less likely to stimulate resistance in NG. We will then use the data we collectfrom these studies to model the probability of emergence of resistance in various scenarioswith the ultimate objective of using the findings to minimize the probability of this resistanceemerging.