Disseminated infection 'infrequent but serious' complication of gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It used to be known as 'the clap'. Gonorrhoea can be easily treated and cured with antibiotics. However, if it isn't treated, gonorrhoea can cause infertility (inability to have children) and other health conditions.

Disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) are thought to be uncommon; surveillance is limited and case reports are analyzed retrospectively or in case clusters. We describe the population-level burden of culture-confirmed Disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) through the Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) system.

During 2015–2016, retrospective surveillance was conducted among residents in two ABCs areas and prospectively in three ABCs areas during 2017–2019. A DGI case was defined as isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) from a normally sterile site. A case report form was completed for each case and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed on available isolates.

The Results of the study are:

During 2015–2019, 77 DGI cases were identified (~a rate of 0.13 cases per 100,000 population) and accounted for 0.06% of all reported gonorrhoea cases in the three surveillance areas. Most Disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) cases were male (64%), non-Hispanic Black (68%), and ranged from 16–67 years; blood (55%) and joint (40%) were the most common sterile sites. Among 29 isolates with antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) results during 2017–2019, all were susceptible to ceftriaxone.

Thus, the researchers concluded that disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) is an infrequent complication of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng); since Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) can quickly develop antimicrobial resistance, continued Disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) surveillance, including monitoring trends in antimicrobial susceptibility, could help inform Disseminated gonococcal infections (DGI) treatment recommendations.

Reference:

Surveillance for Disseminated Gonococcal Infections, Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) – the United States, 2015–2019 by Emily J Weston et al. published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases.

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciac052/6516834