title: Epidemiology of penicillin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Frankfurt, Germany.
abstract: In the present study 150 Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains from prostitutes in Frankfurt, Germany, were investigated for their in vitro susceptibility to eight antimicrobial agents by the agar dilution test. While 21.3% of gonococci were highly resistant to penicillin (MICs > or = 2 mg/l), 49.4% of the organisms were moderately sensitive (MICs = 0.125-0.5 mg/l) and only 29.3% of strains were fully susceptible to penicillin (MICs < or = 0.06 mg/l). No resistance to other antibiotics tested was observed, with the exception of doxycycline, to which overall resistance was 9.7%. Genotypic analysis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by the restriction enzyme technique showed that most penicillin-resistant strains could be grouped into two main bacterial clones, whereas penicillin-susceptible isolates displayed a remarkable heterogeneity. This observation suggests that a restricted number of resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains are likely to spread within the prostitute population of Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Enzensberger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rickmann
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nitschke-Ozbay
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brade
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000187:drug effects*; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D011477:Sex Work