Article Text

Download PDFPDF

P676 Azithromycin resistance among neisseria gonorrhoeae cases in king county, washington, USA, 2017–2018
Free
  1. Christina Thibault1,
  2. Olusegun Soge2,
  3. Lindley Barbee3,
  4. Roxanne Kerani1,
  5. Dawn Spellman1,
  6. Sarah Stewart1,
  7. Anna Harrington1,
  8. Rushlenne Pascual2,
  9. Matthew Golden3
  1. 1Public Health – Seattle and King County, HIV/STD Program, Seattle, USA
  2. 2University of Washington, Global Health, Seattle, USA
  3. 3University of Washington, Medicine, Seattle, USA

Abstract

Background Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) participates in Strengthening the U.S. Response to Resistant Gonorrhea (SURRG), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to enhance surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC). We aimed to identify predictors of azithromycin-resistant GC.

Methods GC culture specimens were collected from patients with GC infection who attended the PHSKC STD Clinic or one of five King County, Washington, medical clinics during 2017–2018. Positive culture isolates underwent azithromycin susceptibility testing with Etest; azithromycin resistance (AZI-R) was defined as minimum inhibitory concentration ≥2.0 µg/mL. Clinical and sociobehavioral data was obtained from medical records and partner services interviews; we compared characteristics of cases with and without AZI-R and evaluated statistical significance with chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.

Results During 2017–2018, 1,164 GC isolates from 1,048 unique cases underwent azithromycin Etest susceptibility testing. Overall, 6.5% of isolates and 6.8% of cases had AZI-R. Prevalence was higher in rectal isolates (8.3% of 373) than urethral (5.0% of 496, p=0.05) and similar to pharyngeal (7.4% of 270, p=0.68). AZI-R was more common in men who have sex with men (MSM) than heterosexuals (8% vs 3%, p=0.04), and in Hispanics vs. non-Hispanics (12% vs 6%, p<0.01). Age, GC history, number of sex partners, HIV-status, PrEP-status, and diagnosing facility type were not associated with AZI-R. Most (95%) AZI-R cases were treated with an azithromycin-containing regimen (dual therapy with ceftriaxone (92%) or gentamicin (4%)). Nearly all (96%) had a documented negative test of cure (culture and/or NAAT); no treatment failures were observed.

Conclusion AZI-R was identified in 6.8% of GC cases in King County, Washington. While more common in MSM and Hispanic persons, AZI-R was not strongly associated with other characteristics we evaluated. Health care providers should be aware of the potential for AZI-R in patients with GC.

Disclosure No significant relationships.

  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • trends

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.