Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, The Royal Melbourne Hospital at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 14;15(1):8076. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52343-0.
N. gonorrhoeae, which causes the sexually transmissible infection gonorrhoea, remains a significant public health threat globally, with challenges posed by increasing transmission and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The COVID-19 pandemic introduced exceptional circumstances into communicable disease control, impacting the transmission of gonorrhoea and other infectious diseases. Through phylogenomic and phylodynamic analysis of 5881 N. gonorrhoeae genomes from Australia, we investigated N. gonorrhoeae transmission over five years, including a time period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a novel cgMLST-based genetic threshold, we demonstrate persistence of large N. gonorrhoeae genomic clusters over several years, with some persistent clusters associated with heterosexual transmission. We observed a decline in both N. gonorrhoeae transmission and genomic diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggestive of an evolutionary bottleneck. The longitudinal, occult transmission of N. gonorrhoeae over many years further highlights the urgent need for improved diagnostic, treatment, and prevention strategies for gonorrhoea.
淋病奈瑟菌（N. gonorrhoeae）可引起性传播感染淋病，仍然是全球重大的公共卫生威胁，其传播增加和抗菌素耐药性（AMR）带来了挑战。COVID-19 大流行给传染病控制带来了特殊情况，影响了淋病和其他传染病的传播。通过对来自澳大利亚的 5881 株淋病奈瑟菌基因组进行系统发生基因组学和系统发育动力学分析，我们研究了五年内淋病奈瑟菌的传播情况，包括 COVID-19 大流行期间。我们使用基于 cgMLST 的新型遗传阈值，证明了大型淋病奈瑟菌基因组簇在几年内的持续存在，一些持续存在的簇与异性传播有关。我们观察到 COVID-19 大流行期间淋病奈瑟菌的传播和基因组多样性都有所下降，提示存在进化瓶颈。淋病奈瑟菌多年来的纵向、隐匿传播进一步凸显了急需改进淋病的诊断、治疗和预防策略。
