Annals of Clinical Microbiology, The official Journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology

6

Weeks in Review

4

Weeks to Publication
Indexed in KCI, KoreaMed, Synapse, DOAJ
Open Access, Peer Reviewed
pISSN 2288-0585 eISSN 2288-6850
Original article

The Evaluation of Recovery Rate of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Two Bacterial Transport Swab Systems and Prevalence of Co-Infection after Delayed Transport

Hyunmin Koo1, Younghee Seo1, Yangsoon Lee1, Hyukmin Lee2, Dongeun Yong1, Seok Hoon Jeong1, Kyungwon Lee1

Department of Laboratory Medicine, 1Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 2Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, Incheon, Korea

Corresponding to Hyukmin Lee, E-mail: hmlee.labmed@gmail.com

Ann Clin Microbiol 2014;17(4):110-114. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2014.17.4.110
Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.

Abstract

Background: Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection remains prevalent, and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance has made the treatment and control of gonorrhea more difficult. Therefore, it is important to compare isolation methods and transport media to overcome gonorrhea via epidemiologic understanding and to determine co-infection rates with other sexually transmitted diseases among primary-care hospitals. In this study, we determine the recovery rate of transferred specimens according to type of transport media and co-infection rate using PCR.

Methods: Genital specimens were collected at three primary-care hospitals from January 2010 to November 2012 using transgrow media and commercial BD transport media. Culture and multiplex PCR were conducted to isolate N. gonorrhoeae.

Results: Among 162 specimens, 57 (35.2%) isolates were recovered, and 146 (90.1%) specimens were positive for multiplex PCR. The recovery rate was 29.9% (78/261) using transgrow media and 19.2% (50/261) using BD transport media. The most common co-infected bacteria with N. gonorrhoeae was Chlamydia trachomatis (15.8%), followed by Mycoplasma hominis (6.2%) and M. genitalium (3.4%).

Conclusion: Under general transport conditions, the rate of recovery of N. gonorrhoeae was as low as 19.2-29.9% depending on the type of transport media, suggesting that molecular diagnostic methods are required to detect the remaining 70% of gonorrhea-infected patients. Co-infection with other sexually transmitted diseases was not rare, and other tests for accurate additional antimicrobial regimens should also be considered. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2014; 17:110-114)

Keywords

Multiplex PCR, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Transgrow media, Urogenital sample