Increased ciprofloxacin resistance in gonococci isolated in Scotland

A review of the susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated from 4415 episodes of infection in Scotland between 1991 and 1999 showed that the pro portion of isolates with lowered susceptibility (ciprofloxacin minimum inhi bitory concentration [MIC] greater than or equal to0.05 mg/L) increased fro m 0.5% in 1991 to 5% in 1999 (p<0.001), whereas the proportion of isolates with clinical resistance (ciprofloxacin MIC <greater than or equal to>1 mg/ L) was significantly higher in 1999 than the average for the preceding 4 ye ars (2.2% vs 0.9%; p=0.02). Ciprofloxacin is a recommended treatment for go nococcal infection in the UK but if resistance continues to increase at the present rate it might not be suitable as a first-fine treatment of gonorrh oea for much longer.