[Antimicrobial susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains determined by disk diffusion]

The Gonoccocus Laboratory of "Pedro Kourí" Tropical Medicine Institute carried out a study of in vitro susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to penicillin, tetracycline, cefuroxime ceftriaxone, cefotaxine and ciprofoxacin by means of a disk diffusion method with the culture medium agar base GC plus supplement. In the first phase, the method was standardized and the reference N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 49226 strain was used whereas in the second phase, 50 gonococcal strains isolated in 8 provinces during 1995 and 1996 were examined. The results of such standardization confirmed that the antimicrobial susceptibility values were within the allowable limits. 52 and 34% of strains were resistant to penicillin and tetracycline respectively and all of them showed susceptibility to the rest of evaluated antimicrobial drugs. We recommend the use of the disk diffusion method for surveillance of gonococci resistance to these drugs in our country.