Prevalence of mutations associated with macrolide and fluoroquinolone resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae with Allplex NG-DR Assay (Seegene) in a tertiary hospital from Madrid, Spain.

OBJECTIVE

The prevalence of drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infections is increasing. Studies report the prevalence of NG strains presenting A2059G/C2611T (rRNA23S) and S91F (parC) mutations conferring resistance to azithromycin and ciprofloxacin.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective cohort study evaluating first void-urine urines, rectal, and oropharyngeal swabs collected from a cohort of patients in a tertiary hospital in Madrid between October 2022 and January 2023. Samples were screened by Allplex 7-STI Essential Assay (Seegene). Drug resistances were performed by Allplex NG-DR Assay (Seegene).

RESULTS

A total of 1,415 patients were included, of which 112 had a positive sample for NG infection. One patient had a C2611T mutation (0.9%) and neither patient showed A2059G mutation. We found 67 (59.8%) S91F-positive patients. Forty-four patients (39.3%) not had any mutations.

CONCLUSIONS

We report a low-prevalence of mutations A2059G/C2611T to macrolides and a high-prevalence to S91F in NG infections. Molecular methods for the detection of NG resistance could be useful in direct non-culturable samples.