Decrease in the incidence of tetracycline resistance in strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the nineties.
Antibiotic resistance determined by standard disc-diffusion method on GC agar with supplement B in 583 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae encountered between 1991 and 1996 at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, were analyzed. The level of penicillin resistance varied between 40% and 28% over the years. Tetracycline resistance fell from 44.2% in 1991 to 23.9% in 1996. Twenty-one per cent of the isolates were resistant simultaneously to both penicillin and tetracycline in 1991. The percentage of such strains decreased to 6.5% in 1996. Ceftriaxone was introduced as a first line drug in treatment of gonococcal infections in the late 1980s. The declining trend of tetracycline resistance may be due to a decrease in the usage of tetracycline in recent years.
Bodonaik
N C
NC
Department of Microbiology, University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica, West Indies. nbodonaik@myrealbox.com
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002443:Ceftriaxone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007563:Jamaica; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000187:drug effects*; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D013753:Tetracycline Resistance
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002443:Ceftriaxone