TY - JOUR
AU - Lee, Hyukmin
AU - Suh, Young Hee
AU - Lee, Sunhwa
AU - Kim, Yong-Kyun
AU - Han, Mi-Soon
AU - Bae, Hye Gyung
AU - Unemo, Magnus
AU - Lee, Kyungwon
T1 - Emergence and Spread of Cephalosporin-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae with Mosaic penA Alleles, South Korea, 2012–2017
T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal
PY - 2019
VL - 25
IS - 3
SP - 416
SN - 1080-6059
AB - In South Korea, surveillance of antimicrobial drug resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is extremely limited. We describe the emergence and subsequent national spread of N. gonorrhoeae strains with mosaic penA alleles associated with decreased susceptibility and resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins. From 2012 through 2017, the proportion of mosaic penA alleles in gonococcal-positive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) specimens across South Korea increased from 1.1% to 23.9%. Gonococcal strains with mosaic penA alleles emerged in the international hubs of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province and Busan in South Gyeongsang Province and subsequently spread across South Korea. Most common was mosaic penA-10.001 (n = 572 isolates; 94.7%), which is associated with cefixime resistance. We also identified mosaic penA-34.001 and penA-60.001, both of which are associated with multidrug-resistant gonococcal strains and spread of cefixime and ceftriaxone resistance. Implementation of molecular resistance prediction from N. gonorrhoeae–positive nucleic acid amplification test specimens is imperative in South Korea and internationally.
KW - Neisseria gonorrhoeae
KW - gonorrhea
KW - antimicrobial treatment
KW - antimicrobial resistance
KW - ceftriaxone
KW - cefixime
KW - penA
KW - NG-MAST
KW - MLST
KW - Korea
KW - bacteria
KW - South Korea
KW - cephalosporin
KW - sexually transmitted infections
KW - AMR
DO - 10.3201/eid2503.181503
UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/3/18-1503_article
ER - End of Reference