PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Arianna Neri AU - Annapina Palmieri AU - Grazia Prignano AU - Massimo Giuliani AU - Alessandra Latini AU - Cecilia Fazio AU - Paola Vacca AU - Luigina Ambrosio AU - Andrea Ciammaruconi AU - Silvia Fillo AU - Anna Anselmo AU - Antonella Fortunato AU - Romano Lista AU - Paola Stefanelli TI - Molecular characterisation and antibiotic susceptibility of meningococcal isolates from healthy men who have sex with men AID - 10.1136/sextrans-2021-055173 DP - 2021 Nov 17 TA - Sexually Transmitted Infections PG - sextrans-2021-055173 4099 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2021/11/17/sextrans-2021-055173.short 4100 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2021/11/17/sextrans-2021-055173.full AB - Objectives To evaluate and characterise meningococcal carriage among healthy men who have sex with men (MSM) within a screening programme for Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection at the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute, Italy.Methods A total of 441 MSM attending the STI/HIV Centre of the San Gallicano Institute, Rome, Italy, in 2016 were routinely screened for N. gonorrhoeae infection by pharyngeal and rectal swabs. N. meningitidis isolates were evaluated for antibiotic susceptibility and characterised by whole genome sequencing. Genetic relationships among the meningococcal carriage isolates were determined using core genome multilocus sequence typing analysis. The soluble domain of AniA (sAniA) protein expression by western blotting was also evaluated.Results A total of 62 (14.1%, 95% CI 11.1 to 17.6) carriage meningococci were found among 441 MSM. Forty-three viable N. meningitidis isolates were cultivated (42 from pharyngeal and 1 from rectal swabs). All the viable isolates were susceptible to cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and rifampicin. Four isolates were penicillin G-resistant and 73% of those penicillin G-susceptible showed a minimum inhibitory concentration from 0.064 μg/mL to 0.25 μg/mL. Serogroup B was the most frequent (44.2%), followed by Z (16.3%), E (9.3%), and Y and W (2.3%), respectively. Multilocus sequence typing analysis identified 29 sequence types belonging to 12 clonal complexes. The sAniA protein was expressed in 8 out of 28 (29%) screened meningococcal carriage isolates.Conclusions Serogroup B meningococcal carriage identified from oral and anal specimens among healthy MSM was the most frequent serogroup identified in this study. Molecular evaluation revealed a degree of similarity among strains belonging to the same clonal complex.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.