Antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium isolates from the private healthcare sector in South Africa: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Reports have emerged globally of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium infections. In South Africa (SA), there are substantial differences between private and public healthcare with regard to antimicrobial drug prescribing practice, which could affect AMR patterns of private and public healthcare patients. OBJECTIVES: To perform a pilot study to determine the frequency of AMR of N. gonorrhoeae and M. genitalium in patients accessing SA's private healthcare sector. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, N. gonorrhoeae-positive cultures and M. genitalium DNA samples were collected from a private healthcare reference laboratory from August 2018 to August 2019. In N. gonorrhoeae-positive cultures, antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed, followed by N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) to determine genetic relatedness of the isolates. To determine macrolide and fluoroquinolone resistance rates, M. genitalium-positive samples were analysed by sequencing the 23S rRNA, gyrA and parC genes. RESULTS: Twenty-one N. gonorrhoeae- and 27 M. genitalium-positive specimens were included in this analysis. High rates of resistance were detected among gonococcal isolates, with 90% resistance to tetracycline, 86% to penicillin and 62% to ciprofloxacin, but no resistance to azithromycin, cefixime and ceftriaxone. NG-MAST revealed genetically diverse isolates with 83% novel NG-MAST sequence types. Macrolide and fluoroquinolone resistance-associated mutations were detected in 18.5% (n=5/27) and 7.4% (n=2/27) of M. genitalium strains, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We observed high frequencies of ciprofloxacin, penicillin and tetracycline resistance in N. gonorrhoeae and macrolide resistance-associated mutations in M. genitalium in private healthcare sector patients in SA. This finding highlights the need to use diagnostics for sexually transmitted infections and to include the private healthcare sector in antimicrobial surveillance and stewardship programmes.

Evaluation of an In-House Colistin NP Test for Use in Resource-Limited Settings.

Colistin has become increasingly important in the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Resistance to colistin has emerged globally, necessitating the need for an accurate method to detect colistin resistance. The colistin NP test has shown promise as a rapid screening assay for colistin resistance. This study compared the performance of an in-house-prepared colistin NP test against broth microdilution (BMD) as the gold standard and against Etest (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) as an alternative method. A total of 215 stored Enterobacteriaceae isolates were evaluated, of which 159 were resistant and 56 susceptible to colistin by BMD. The categorical agreement of the colistin NP test with BMD was found to be 98.1%, compared to 87.9% for the Etest. One major error was detected with both the colistin NP test and the Etest. Three very major errors were detected with the colistin NP test compared to 25 with the Etest. This resulted in a major error rate of 1.8% for both the colistin NP test and the Etest and a very major error rate of 1.9% and 15.7% for the colistin NP test and the Etest, respectively. The colistin NP test compared satisfactorily to the BMD reference method in determining colistin susceptibility. The colistin NP test is a rapid, inexpensive screening method for colistin resistance, especially in resource-limited settings.