The aim of this study was both to investigate the in-vitro susceptibility to thiamphenicol of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains isolated at different times in different geographic areas and to compare results of susceptibility testing by the agar-dilution method with those of an agar disk-diffusion test. For 209 strains studied, a strong correlation between MIC values and zone diameters could be demonstrated (Spearman Rank correlation coefficient, -0.77; P less than 0.0005). The total material consisted of 727 selected gonococcal strains: 184 from Denmark (1928-1982), 55 from Africa (1960-1966), 47 from France (1981-1982), 236 from Greenland (1982), and 205 from Indonesia (1982). Danish strains from the preantibiotic era (1928-1940) were all susceptible to less than or equal to 1.0 microgram of thiamphenicol/ml. In 1982, the less susceptible strains (MIC, greater than or equal to 2 micrograms/ml; or zone diameter, less than or equal to 45 mm) accounted for 5% (Denmark), 28% (Greenland), 28% (France), and 82% (Indonesia), respectively. All non-penicillinase-producing strains of N. gonorrhoeae that were less susceptible to thiamphenicol were also less susceptible to penicillin (MIC, greater than or equal to 0.6 microgram/ml).

Africa↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The outcome of single-dose cefuroxime treatment in patients with pharyngeal gonorrhea.

This study of single-dose cefuroxime treatment of pharyngeal gonorrhea included 13 patients from whose throat specimens taken on the day of treatment Neisseria gonorrhoeae was isolated and who returned for follow-up examinations one and two weeks later. The regimen used was cefuroxime (1.5 g im) plus probenecid (1 g orally). The treatment failed in six patients (46%). Failure of treatment was not associated with decreased in vitro susceptibility of the infecting strain to cefuroxime. In pharyngeal gonorrhea the diagnosis by culture and effective control of treatment require repeated sampling for bacteriologic examinations.

Cefuroxime↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The emergence of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains carrying the 4.9 kb (Toronto) plasmid in Denmark and of a novel large plasmid in two nonpenicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains.

This study comprised plasmid analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 712 out of a total of 730 penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) and 744 random non-PPNG strains isolated in Denmark between 1985 and 1990. The rate of patients with PPNG infections rose from 1% to 2% during 1985-1987 to 6.9% in 1989, and then decreased to 4.8% in 1990. A decrease in cases of gonorrhea from 9,798 to 1,990 was seen during the same period. Strains harboring the 4.9 kb (Toronto) plasmid first appeared in 1987; in 1988-1990, 65% to 78% of strains from patients with PPNG infections acquired in Denmark contained this plasmid. The majority of these strains seemed to belong to a single clone. Tetracycline-resistant PPNG strains (MIC greater than 32 mg/L) first appeared in Denmark in 1989, and tetracycline-resistant non-PPNG strains carrying a 40 kb plasmid (tetM?) first appeared in 1990. A novel 41-42 kb plasmid appeared in one strain in 1987 and another in 1988. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of tetracycline for these two strains was 4 mg/l. The significance of this plasmid is yet unknown.

Ceftriaxone↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The epidemiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates in Greenland 1979-1990: the emergence, spread and disappearance of non-PPNG strains carrying the conjugative 38.9 kb plasmid.

BACKGROUND: In 1990, Greenland was one of the few areas in the world in which endemic occurrence of PPNG had not been reported. However, between 1982 and 1988 an increase in the prevalence of strains with chromosomally mediated resistance to penicillin had been noticed. The standard treatment regimen was changed early in 1983. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of the 38.9 kb plasmid in gonococcal strains isolated in Greenland 1979-1990. DESIGN: Retrospective (1979-1984) and prospective (1985-1990) studies of antimicrobial susceptibility and plasmid profile of consecutive N. gonorrhoeae isolates from patients attending the STD clinic in Nuuk, Greenland; selected strains from 1982-1984 were subjected to serotyping and auxotyping. RESULTS: Before 1982, N. gonorrhoeae strains harboring the 38.9 kb conjugative plasmid were rare; in 1982, a sudden increase in the prevalence of these strains was strongly associated with the emergence of streptomycin-resistant strains with high-level chromosomally mediated resistance to penicillin, 70% of which carried the 38.9 kb plasmid. Determination of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, auxotype and serovar supported the assumption of an epidemic spread of a single clone. The predominance of this clone was transient, but the 38.9 kb plasmid spread to penicillin-susceptible as well as to other clones of penicillin-resistant strains. CONCLUSION: The emergence of the 38.9 kb plasmid in 1982 was linked to a single clone of strains, but the subsequent spread of the plasmid was independent of the presence of other plasmids, and its disappearance was not associated with a change in standard treatment regimen.

Conjugation, Genetic↗