Gonorrhea (aka "the clap," or "the drip") is caused by sexually transmitted Neisseria gonorrhoeae--a Gram-negative diplococcus. One of the most common reportable diseases in the United States, gonorrhea frequently affects sexually active adolescents. Approximately 30% of the 350,000 annual cases involve 15to 19-year-olds. (That percentage is thought to be an underestimate!) Those most often inf...

OBJECTIVES Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections are the second most commonly reported disease in the United States and cause significant morbidity. We describe the prevalence of gonorrhea in a large sample of men tested for gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis in Baltimore, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. METHODS Gonorrhea prevalence was measured among 17,712 men tested in a variety of non-sex...

In a randomized open study, 351 male patients with uncomplicated gonorrhea were given single oral doses of grepafloxacin (400 mg) or cefixime (400 mg). In the 299 microbiologically evaluable patients, urethral infections were cured in 99% (147 of 149) of those receiving grepafloxacin and 97% (145 of 150) of those given cefixime. Eradication rates for both regimens were 100% in the 16% (47 of 29...

The accuracy of presumptive criteria for identification of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was assessed in two separate populations of women with a low prevalence of gonorrhea. Of the presumptively positive cervical isolates available for confirmation, 98.5% were identified as N. gonorrhoeae. Of 25 isolates that could not be confirmed, 20 failed to grow on subculture, and of the remaining 5, only 2 (0.6%...

BACKGROUND To guide interpretation of gonorrhea tests of cure using nucleic acid amplification testing, this study examined the persistence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA following treatment for pharyngeal and rectal gonorrhea. METHODS Men who had sex with men diagnosed with pharyngeal or rectal gonorrhea underwent swabbing from the pharynx or rectum 7 and 14 days following treatment. Repeat te...

No difference in survival was observed when ultraviolet-irradiated gonococcal cells were subsequently incubated in the dark or exposed to photoreactivating light. This observation indicates that photoreactivation is absent in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

In 2008, 1330,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The actual number of infections per year is thought to be much higher because of underdetection and underreporting [1]. Neisseria gonorrhoeae can cause cervicitis, urethritis, proctitis, pelvic inflammatory disease with long-term sequelae (eg, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and chronic p...

Prevention and control of gonorrhea is an important public health concern due to the high burden of disease, the recent increase in reported infection rates, and the reproductive and economic consequences of infection. Effective antibiotic treatment is one essential component of an integrated approach to gonorrhea control. Over the past 60 years, however, development of resistance in Neisseria ...

A new self-contained medium system for the cultivation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was compared to modified Thayer-Martin medium for the diagnosis of gonorrhea from endocervical specimens. There was no difference in the ability of the two methods to support the growth of N. gonorrhoeae.