Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme, 1 July to 30 September 2016
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The Australian National Neisseria Network (NNN) comprises reference laboratories in each state and territory that report data on sensitivity to an agreed group of antimicrobial agents for the Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme (AGSP). The antibiotics are penicillin, ceftriaxone, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin, which are current or potential agents used for the treatment of gonorrhoea. Azithromycin testing has been recently introduced by all states and territories as it is part of a dual therapy regimen with ceftriaxone recommended for the treatment of gonorrhoea in the majority of Australia. Because of the substantial geographic differences in susceptibility patterns in Australia, regional as well as aggregated data are presented. In certain remote regions of the Northern Territory and Western Australia gonococcal antimicrobial resistance rates are low and an oral treatment regimen comprising amoxycillin, probenecid and azithromycin is recommended for the treatment of gonorrhoea. When in vitro resistance to a recommended agent is demonstrated in 5% or more of isolates from a general population, it is usual to remove that agent from the list of recommended treatments.1 Additional data on other antibiotics are reported in the AGSP annual report. The AGSP has a program-specific quality assurance process. The AGSP data are presented quarterly in tabulated form, as well as in the AGSP annual report. For more information see Commun Dis Intell 2016;40(1):E178–E179.