Problems of venereal disease in Nigeria. 1. Gonococcal resistance to antibiotics and treatment of gonorrhoea.

Venereal disease is becoming an increasingly serious problem in developing countries. The availability of antibiotics in chemists' shops has encouraged self-medication with sub-therapeutic doses and inadequate treatment regimens. At a health centre in Nigeria, a diagnosis of gonococcal urethritis was made in 159 out of 429 men presenting with urethritis. Neisseria gonorrhoeae was cultured in 141 cases and the sensitivity pattern to a number of antibiotics freely available at chemists was determined. The organisms were highly resistant to penicillin (84%), ampicillin (80%), tetracycline (68%), streptomycin (78%) and co-trimoxazole (83%). These were the cheapest of the drugs available, leaving only erythromycin and the more expensive drugs gentamicin and cefotaxime still effective for general use in treatment programmes.