To What Extent Should We Rely on Antibiotics to Reduce High Gonococcal Prevalence? Historical Insights from Mass-Meningococcal Campaigns

Chris Kenyon

doi:10.3390/pathogens9020134

To What Extent Should We Rely on Antibiotics to Reduce High Gonococcal Prevalence? Historical Insights from Mass-Meningococcal Campaigns

Pathogens. 2020 Feb 18;9(2):134. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9020134.

Author

Chris Kenyon^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ HIV/STI Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
² Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory 7700, South Africa.

Abstract

In the absence of a vaccine, current antibiotic-dependent efforts to reduce the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in high prevalence populations have been shown to result in extremely high levels of antibiotic consumption. No randomized controlled trials have been conducted to validate this strategy and an important concern of this approach is that it may induce antimicrobial resistance. To contribute to this debate, we assessed if mass treatment in the related species, Neisseria meningitidis, was associated with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. To this end, we conducted a historical review of the effect of mass meningococcal treatment programmes on the prevalence of N. meningitidis and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. We found evidence that mass treatment programmes were associated with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

Keywords: AMR; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Neisseria meningitides; commensal Neisseria.

Publication types

Review