Analysis of the antibiotic sensitivity of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Guangzhou, Peoples Republic of China

Background: Sexually transmitted diseases began to reemerge in China in the mid 1980s, During the last one and a half decades, Neisseria gonorrhoeae i nfection has become one of the three most common sexually transmitted disea ses in China. At present, resistant strains of N gonorrhoeae are increasing each year, This study was undertaken to better understand the sensitivity of five antibiotics to N gonorrhoeae isolates in Guangzhou, China. Goal: To determine the frequency and diversity of antibiotic resistance, pa rticularly to penicillin and tetracycline, on gonococcal strains in Guangzh ou. Study Design: Strains of N gonorrhoeae isolates from 203 patients with unco mplicated urethral gonococcal infections from Guangzhou, China were reviewe d from September 1997 to August 1998, All strains were characterized with f ive different antimicrobials for sensitivity, including penicillin, tetracy cline, spectinomycin, ciprofloxacin, and ceftriaxone. Results: Penicillin resistance was present in 121 of 203 isolated strains ( 59.6%). The plasmid-mediated strains and chromosome-mediated strains among the penicillin-resistant strains that were resistance to penicillin were 5. 8% and 94.2%, respectively, Plasmid-mediated strains resistant to penicilli n and tetracycline were each 3.4%, Most isolated strains were resistant to ciprofloxacin, accounting for 60.6%. All strains were sensitive to spectino mycin and ceftriaxone. Conclusion: N gonorrhoeae isolates exhibited a high rate of resistance to p enicillin and ciprofloxacin, Spectinomycin highly effective for penicillin- producing N gonorrhoeae, tetracycline-resistant N gonorrhoeae and the highl y resistant strains of ciprofloxacin.