Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme annual report, 2015

The Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme (AGSP) has continuously monitored antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from all Australian states and territories since 1981. In 2015, there were 5,411 clinical isolates of gonococci from public and private sector sources tested for in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility by standardised methods. Current treatment recommendations for the majority of Australian states and territories is a dual therapeutic strategy of ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone (minimum inhibitory concentration or MIC value 0.06-0.125 mg/L) was found nationally in 1.8% of isolates, which was lower than that reported in the AGSP annual report 2014 (5.4%). The highest proportions were reported from South Australia and New South Wales (3.6% and 2.7% respectively). High level resistance to azithromycin (MIC value ≥ 256 mg/L) was again reported in 2015, with 1 strain in each of New South Wales and urban Western Australia. There was no reported Azithromycin resistance in the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, or remote Western Australia. The proportion of strains resistant to penicillin in urban and rural Australia ranged from 8.7% in Tasmania to 33% in the Australian Capital Territory. In rural and remote Northern Territory, penicillin resistance rates remain low (2.2%). In remote Western Australia relatively low numbers of strains are available for testing, however there is now widespread molecular testing for penicillin resistance in Western Australia to monitor resistance and inform guidelines and these data are included in the AGSP annual report. Quinolone resistance ranged from 11% in the urban and rural areas of the Northern Territory, to 41% in South Australia. Quinolone resistance rates remain comparatively low in remote areas of the Northern Territory (3.3%) and remote areas of Western Australia (3.4%). There was no reported quinolone resistance in Tasmania, but the number of isolates tested was relatively low. Azithromycin resistance ranged from 1.8% in Victoria to 5.8% in Queensland.