A World Health Organization study from Copenhagen in 1969 found the highest proportion of resistant gonococci in 1967 1968 in Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Other reports had noticed a high rate of failure in treatment in South Korea, as well as in Japan and on the west coast of the United States. These are all zones of war or military occupation or embarkation. In other world areas, including the rest of the United States itself, the failure rate with adequate penicillin dosage has been little more than 5 per cent; and in northern Europe a reversion of gonococci to "normal" penicillin susceptibility has been described. But increased penicillin resistance of gonococci has been found in other places, including Toronto, Canada; Sydney, Australia; and Helsinki, Finland. Nevertheless, and while a wide range of other antibiotics and other drugs (including a new sulfonamide in combination with another agent) continue to be tested with varying success, penicillin is still listed as the best of the lot.

Again in contrast to the syphilis problem, it has been reported that treatment of gonorrhea with penicillin tends to be more effective when a quickly absorbed water soluble preparation is given (still as a single dose) instead of one of the slow acting repository drugs. The idea is to build up the level of penicillin in the blood as high and as fast as possible. Certain other drugs have been used along with the penicillin to enhance the effect by slowing excretion of the penicillin through the kidneys. The fact is that in spite of resistance of gonococci to penicillin and developing resistance to other antibiotics as well up to now either penicillin itself in sufficient dosage, or one of the newer modified penicillins or another antibiotic, can always be found, by testing a culture from the patient, which can be used effectively in treatment. This has been true up to now; but there is evidently a race going on between increasing drug resistance of the gonococcus and the ingenuity of chemists in making new or modified drugs, with continuing war or military activity clearly acting on the side of the gonococcus.

The minor venereal diseases are all adequately treatable. Penicillin is not used for any of them, but sulfonamides have been found effective for both LGV and chancroid. Tetracycline or one of its variants has been used successfully for LGV, chancroid, and granuloma inguinale. Chancroid has also been treated successfully with streptomycin.