Sequencing

11th Annual Sequencing, Finishing, and Analysis in the Future Meeting
DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF
BRAZILIAN GONOCOCCAL CLINICAL ISOLATES
WITH REDUCED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO
CEPHALOSPORIN ANTIBIOTICS
Wednesday, 1st June 18:30 La Fonda Mezzanine (2nd Floor) Poster (PS‐2a.04)
Jack Cartee 1 , Sean Lucking 1 , Ana Paula Ramalho 2 , A. Jeanine Abrams 3 , David Trees 1
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 3 Cen
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the etiological agent responsible for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea.
In 2008, the World Health Organization estimated 106 million new gonorrhea cases worldwide.
The emergence of gonococcal resistance to former first‐line antibiotics led to the current CDC treatment
recommendation for uncomplicated gonorrhea, which outlines the dual‐use of ceftriaxone with
either azithromycin or doxycycline. However, the appearance of the mosaic form of the penA gene
resulted in significant decreases in ceftriaxone susceptibility. Moreover, a consequence of the mosaic
form of penA is the occurrence of treatment failures with various cephalosporins.
This study aimed to detect the presence of mosaic penA alleles in gonococcal isolates from Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, and to determine if the mosaic alleles were associated with reduced susceptibility to
cephalosporins. We utilized genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analyses to examine the genomes of
117 gonococcal isolates that were collected at public and private healthcare clinics between 2006 and
2015 in Rio de Janeiro. Of these, seven samples with mosaic penA alleles exhibited reduced susceptibility
to cefixime. These results will further aid our understanding of the evolution of decreased susceptibility
to cephalosporins in N. gonorrhoeae.
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