Department of Clinical Sciences, 567788Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, 26660University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Int J STD AIDS. 2022 Feb;33(2):129-135. doi: 10.1177/09564624211048678. Epub 2021 Nov 2.
Gonococcal infections with a higher bacterial load may pose a higher risk of transmission. We assessed the association between gonococcal bacterial load and coinfection with .
From September 2015 until May 2018, 200 men and transgender women who have sex with men participated in an HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) demonstration trial in Antwerp, Belgium. They underwent 3-monthly 3-site (anus, urine, and pharynx) molecular testing for and , irrespective of symptoms. Gonococcal bacterial load was determined on remnant DNA extracts using an in-house quantitative PCR. Results were expressed as log transformed copies/mL and analyzed with a linear regression model.
Gonococcal bacterial load could be determined for 82 (80.4%) of 102 anal, 17 (73.9%) of 23 urine, and 64 (90.1%) of 71 pharyngeal samples. was detected in five of these anal, two urine, and two pharyngeal samples and was detected in 16 anal, one urine, and two pharyngeal samples. Gonococcal bacterial load was significantly higher in the presence of (difference 0.92 log copies/mL, 95% CI 0.16-1.67).
Gonococcal bacterial load was higher with coinfection. may thus be a cofactor in gonococcal transmission.
淋球菌感染的细菌载量较高可能会增加传播的风险。我们评估了淋球菌细菌载量与 合并感染之间的相关性。
2015 年 9 月至 2018 年 5 月，200 名男男性行为者和跨性别女性参加了在比利时安特卫普进行的 HIV 暴露前预防（PrEP）试验。他们接受了 3 个月一次的 3 个部位（肛门、尿液和咽部）分子检测，用于检测 和 ，无论是否有症状。使用内部定量 PCR 方法从剩余的 DNA 提取物中确定淋球菌细菌载量。结果表示为对数转换拷贝/ml，并通过线性回归模型进行分析。
可以确定 102 份肛门、23 份尿液和 64 份咽拭子样本中的 82 份（80.4%）、17 份（73.9%）和 64 份（90.1%）的淋球菌细菌载量。在这 5 份肛门、2 份尿液和 2 份咽拭子样本中检测到 ，在 16 份肛门、1 份尿液和 2 份咽拭子样本中检测到 。 合并感染时，淋球菌细菌载量明显升高（差异 0.92 对数拷贝/ml，95%CI 0.16-1.67）。
淋球菌细菌载量在 合并感染时更高。 可能因此成为淋球菌传播的一个协同因素。
