Studies on gonococcus infection. XIII. Occurrence of color/opacity colonial variants in clinical cultures.

Colonial variants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae differing in color and opacity characteristics are distributed differently between male urethral and female cervical cultures. Colonial characteristics of cultures isolated from female cervices differ with time of isolation within the menstrual cycle and use of oral contraceptives. These differences may reflect selective forces in the ecology of the cervix, particularly proteolytic enzymes in cervical mucus and menstrual blood. Cycle changes in the characteristics of gonococci isolated from females may have implications for pathogenesis of gonococcal infections and immune response to the gonococcus.