Low Prevalence of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae in Owerri, Nigeria

Abstract

Gonorrhoeae is a purulent infection of the mucous membranes caused by the sexual transmission of the bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It is a leading cause of pelvic inflammatory disease, which can result to complications such as tubal factor infertility, chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Owerri, Imo State Nigeria; as well as the susceptibility of the recovered isolates to commonly used antibiotics for the treatment of the disease. The survey involved 49 consenting patients seen at St. John's Medical Laboratory Owerri who were presenting with signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted disease. Urethra swaps specimens were collected from male patients while highvaginal swabs and endocervical swabs were collected from female patients respectively. The specimens were processed and analyzed for Neisseria gonorrhea using conventional microbiological techniques of the 49 specimens analyzed, only 1 (2.0%) urethra swap from a 38 years old man yielded Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Antibiotic susceptibility testing shows that the isolate was sensitive to ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and ceftriaxone but resistant to penicillin, tetracycline and doxycycline. Despite low rate of gonorrhea infection observed in this study, it is important to focus on high-risk populations (reproductive age group) because of the great physical and emotional costs of the disease. There is a need for a policy on routine screening for Neisseria gonorrhoeae since the treatment is available but the complications are dangerous to reproductive health.