A comparison of the microbiological characteristics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated from male and female patients with gonorrhea.

BACKGROUND

A trend towards a decrease in gonorrhea in Japan was observed until the mid-1990s, but soon after that period, an increased incidence of gonorrhea was reported.

METHODS

Antimicrobial susceptibility, auxotype and the type of gyrA and parC mutations were compared between 200 and 132 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from male and female patients with gonorrhea, respectively.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The isolation frequency of ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates from male patients was higher than that from female patients (19.5 and 13.6%, respectively). All ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates had single to triple mutations in gyrA and/or parC genes. N. gonorrhoeae isolates showed a predominance of Pro-requiring auxotypes (46.5 and 46.2% of the isolates from male and female patients, respectively). Of the Pro-requiring isolates, the incidence of ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates was higher in the isolates from male patients than in the isolates from female patients.