Neisseria Gonorrhoae and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among symptomatic patients from Gondar town, north West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhoea, is a Gram negative, coffee-bean shaped facultative intracellular diplococcus bacterium, the classical sexually transmitted bacteria. Nowadays, N. gonorrhoeae has developed high-level resistance to all traditional antimicrobials used for the treatment of gonorrhoea and makes the treatment complicated. So, the aim of this study was to determine magnitude and antimicrobial resistance patterns of N. gonorrhoeae. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted between April and August 2016 among STI clinic clients in Gondar town hospitals and health centers. Urethral swab and cervical swab specimens were inoculated to Thayer Martin media (OXOID, UK) plates. Observation of Gram-negative intracellular diplococcic was a presumptive diagnosis of gonococcal infection. Finally, antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed by using a modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion test, with results indicating susceptible, intermediate or resistant. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of laboratory confirmed N. gonorrhoeae was 25(20.8%). The isolated N. gonorrhoeae was resistant 100% to tetracycline, penicillin and 80% percent was multidrug resistant. CONCLUSION: Prevalence and drug resistance of N. gonorrhoeae were high in the study area. A large study is needed in order to know the magnitude in the community as well as to increase awareness of both regional health bureaus and the Ministry of Health about the treatment guide-lines.