A survey of beta-lactamase-producing gonococcal isolates reported in the United Kingdom 1979--80. The present trend.

104 strains of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (P.P.N.G) from England, Scotland, and Wales were reported to the V.D. Reference Laboratory and the Communicable Disease Centre, Colindale, in 1979. By contrast, there were only 15 reported cases in 1977 and 31 in 1978. The majority of patients each year contracted their infections overseas, primarily in South-East Asia and West Africa, but in 1979 41 patients (39%) reported contracting their infections in the United Kingdom. Of these 17 were secondary contacts of patients who had acquired their infection outside the U.K., but in 8 cases the primary contact was in the United Kingdom. The current incidence of P.P.N.G. in the U.K. is low compared with that in Singapore and the Philippines, but continued epidemiological assessment is essential because not all laboratories use this reference reporting system. The number of P.P.N.G. strains reported up to October, 1980, shows a considerable increase over those seen during 1979.