Cipro, the powerful antibiotic famous for its defense against anthrax, is not effective in some new types of gonorrhea emanating in the United States from the Far East, according to federal health officials.

At a San Diego conference on sexually transmitted diseases, CDC researchers presented findings indicating that cases of an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacteria have cropped up in Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and Orange County, Calif. So far, according to the researchers, 14 percent of gonorrhea cases in Hawaii are ciprofloxcin (Cipro)-resistant, and West Coast rates, although lower, rose to 0.4 percent in 2000 from 0.1 percent in 1998.

"As with most STDs in our modern age of air travel, we wouldn't be surprised to see this trend move toward the East Coast," warned Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, the CDC's deputy director of sexually transmitted disease prevention, in an interview.

Valdiserri urged travelers to be mindful of the risks abroad, recommending abstinence or the use of condoms. He also urged doctors to ask about travel when examining patients with STD symptoms. "If a businessman has been in Southeast Asia, don't start them on Cipro," he said. "Use cephalosporin antibiotics, and do tests for drug sensitivity."

While STDs exist around the world, the resistant strain appears to have migrated from the Far East. Drug resistance is a global trend resulting from the overuse of antibiotics. Cipro and other fluroquinolones have been top-line treatments since the 1980s, when gonorrhea grew resistant to tetracycline. Cipro-resistant gonorrhea is also resistant to related drugs like levofloxacin and ofloxacin.

The CDC estimates that 650,000 new cases of gonorrhea occur each year in the United States, half of which aren't reported. Although national rates are stabilizing, disease strongholds in poor urban areas and the South still show alarming rates of increase. Untreated gonorrhea can cause infertility and fuel transmission of the AIDS virus.

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