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Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Distancing measures during the COVID-19 lockdown led to a temporary decrease of casual sex partners among clients of the Centre for Sexual Health (CSH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We investigated the effect of this change on the genotypic and phenotypic distribution of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng)...

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Autores principales: Zondag, H.C.A., de Korne-Elenbaas, J., Bruisten, S.M., de Vries, H.J.C., van Dam, A.P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Microbiology Society 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10210945/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37022326
http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000975
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author Zondag, H.C.A.
de Korne-Elenbaas, J.
Bruisten, S.M.
de Vries, H.J.C.
van Dam, A.P.
author_facet Zondag, H.C.A.
de Korne-Elenbaas, J.
Bruisten, S.M.
de Vries, H.J.C.
van Dam, A.P.
author_sort Zondag, H.C.A.
collection PubMed
description Distancing measures during the COVID-19 lockdown led to a temporary decrease of casual sex partners among clients of the Centre for Sexual Health (CSH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We investigated the effect of this change on the genotypic and phenotypic distribution of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) isolates from CSH patients. From each Ng-positive patient we sequenced one isolate, resulting in 322 isolates which constituted two groups: 181 isolates cultured from 15 January to 29 February 2020 (before the first lockdown) and 141 cultured from 15 May to 30 June 2020 (during the first lockdown). Patient characteristics showed significantly more symptomatic patients and significantly fewer reported sex partners during the lockdown. Phenotypic data showed an increase in low-level azithromycin resistance and ceftriaxone susceptibility during the lockdown, and this remained after the study period. The diversity in sequence types (STs) decreased slightly during the lockdown. A shift occurred from ST 8156 being predominant before lockdown to ST 9362 during lockdown and a remarkably low median SNP distance of 17 SNPs was found between ST 9362 isolates obtained during lockdown. These findings reflect restricted travel and the change in sexual behaviour of CSH clients during the lockdown, with a potentially increased local transmission of the ST 9362 strain during this period, which led to genotypic and phenotypic changes in the Ng population. This shows that public health measures have far-reaching consequences and should be considered in the surveillance of other infectious diseases.
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spelling pubmed-102109452023-05-26 Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Zondag, H.C.A. de Korne-Elenbaas, J. Bruisten, S.M. de Vries, H.J.C. van Dam, A.P. Microb Genom Research Articles Distancing measures during the COVID-19 lockdown led to a temporary decrease of casual sex partners among clients of the Centre for Sexual Health (CSH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We investigated the effect of this change on the genotypic and phenotypic distribution of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) isolates from CSH patients. From each Ng-positive patient we sequenced one isolate, resulting in 322 isolates which constituted two groups: 181 isolates cultured from 15 January to 29 February 2020 (before the first lockdown) and 141 cultured from 15 May to 30 June 2020 (during the first lockdown). Patient characteristics showed significantly more symptomatic patients and significantly fewer reported sex partners during the lockdown. Phenotypic data showed an increase in low-level azithromycin resistance and ceftriaxone susceptibility during the lockdown, and this remained after the study period. The diversity in sequence types (STs) decreased slightly during the lockdown. A shift occurred from ST 8156 being predominant before lockdown to ST 9362 during lockdown and a remarkably low median SNP distance of 17 SNPs was found between ST 9362 isolates obtained during lockdown. These findings reflect restricted travel and the change in sexual behaviour of CSH clients during the lockdown, with a potentially increased local transmission of the ST 9362 strain during this period, which led to genotypic and phenotypic changes in the Ng population. This shows that public health measures have far-reaching consequences and should be considered in the surveillance of other infectious diseases. Microbiology Society 2023-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10210945/ /pubmed/37022326 http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000975 Text en © 2023 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Zondag, H.C.A.
de Korne-Elenbaas, J.
Bruisten, S.M.
de Vries, H.J.C.
van Dam, A.P.
Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title_full Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title_fullStr Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title_full_unstemmed Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title_short Increased clonality among Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
title_sort increased clonality among neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates during the covid-19 pandemic in amsterdam, the netherlands
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10210945/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37022326
http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000975
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