JAC Advance Access originally published online on February 21, 2006
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2006 57(4):775-779; doi:10.1093/jac/dkl040
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Antimicrobial susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Greece: data for the years 19942004
1 The National Reference Center for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Laboratory of Bacteriology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece; 2 Microbiology Laboratory of the Andreas Sygros Hospital for Skin and Venereal Diseases, Athens, Greece; 3 Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece
Received 29 November 2005; returned 4 January 2006; revised and accepted 27 January 2006
* Corresponding author. Tel: +30-210-6478-810; Fax: +30-210-6423-498; E-mail: tzelepi{at}pasteur.gr
Objectives: Surveillance data concerning antimicrobial susceptibilities of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated in Greece during the 11 year period 19942004 are presented.
Methods: Antimicrobial susceptibilities of all gonococcal isolates received by the Greek National Reference Center for N. gonorrhoeae during the study period were determined in terms of MICs using Etest. Trends in yearly isolation frequencies by susceptibility category were estimated for defining significant changes in overall susceptibility figures.
Results: Cefotaxime and spectinomycin retained undiminished activity against all isolates throughout the study period. High rates of resistance and intermediate susceptibilities were noticed for penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin, and even for norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. A substantial portion (16.5%) of the gonococcal samples consisted of multiresistant strains exhibiting resistance to two or more agents of different antibiotic classes. Although annual rates of low-level chromosomal resistance decreased, high-level resistance owing to the presence of penicillin- and tetracycline-resistance plasmids increased. Fluoroquinolone resistance also showed a significant increasing trend after 1996, reaching a peak rate of 11.3% in 2004.
Conclusion: Third-generation cephalosporins and spectinomycin should be considered as first-choice drugs for the empirical treatment of gonorrhoea in Greece.
Keywords: N. gonorrhoeae , gonorrhoea , antibiotic resistance , fluoroquinolones
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