Aztreonam for Neisseria gonorrhoeae: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ceftriaxone is the only consistently active antimicrobial agent recommended for the treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Although some new antimicrobials are in development, the necessity to expand treatment options in the near term may require using older drugs that have not been widely used to treat gonorrhoea.

We conducted a literature review of clinical trials and case series, published from 1983 to 2017, reporting treatment efficacy results following administration of 1 g aztreonam intramuscularly or IV for uncomplicated gonococcal infections. We summed trial data, stratified by anatomical site of infection, and calculated summary efficacy estimates and 95% CI for each site of infection.

The 10 identified clinical trials enrolled 678, 38 and 16 individuals with urogenital, rectal and pharyngeal gonorrhoea, respectively. Aztreonam had an efficacy of 98.6% (95% CI: 97.5%-99.4%) for urogenital, 94.7% (95% CI: 82.3%-99.4%) for rectal and 81.3% (95% CI: 54.4%-96.0%) for pharyngeal gonococcal infections.

Although most clinical trials included in this meta-analysis were conducted >30 years ago, aztreonam appears to have excellent efficacy for urogenital gonorrhoea; its efficacy at extragenital sites remains uncertain.