Analysis of the dynamics of <i>Neisseria gonorrhоeaе</i> resistance to antimicrobial drugs in the Russian Federation for the period 2005–2021

Background. Neisseria gonorrhoeae can rapidly develop resistance to antimicrobial agents due to innate mechanisms for the acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes. Because of the rapid formation of resistance mechanisms of N. gonorrhoeae to the antimicrobial agents used in gonococcal therapy, the risk of incurable forms of the disease is high. The purpose of the study is to to summarize the results of RU-GASP over a 16-year period and assess the trends of N. gonorrhoeae resistance to antimicrobials used in the regimens of antibiotic therapy of gonococcal infection in Russia. Materials and methods. Study Objective. The study included 5356 isolates of N. gonorrhoeae received from January 2005 to December 2021 in State Scientific Center of Dermatovenerology and Cosmetology, Moscow of the Ministry of Health of Russia under the RU-GASP program from specialized medical organizations of dermatovenerological profile of 37 subjects of the Russian Federation. Primary identification of N. gonorrhoeae was performed using bacterioscopic and bacteriological methods. The cultures identified as N. gonorrhoeae were frozen in a cryogenic medium and transported to SSCDC. Received cultures were verified by biochemical criteria on a VITEK 2 Compact analyzer. For cultures identified as N. gonorrhoeae with less than 99% probability, a time-of-flight ionization mass spectrometer MALDI Microflex (Bruker Daltonics GmbH, Germany) was used for mass spectrometric analysis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Sensitivity testing of N. gonorrhoeae to six antimicrobials penicillin, spectinomycin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin was performed by serial dilution in agar with determination of minimum suppressive concentrations (MSC, mg/L). N. gonorrhoeae sensitivity to antibacterial agents was evaluated according to EUCAST criteria (The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, 2022, http://www.eucast.org). Results. The study showed the absence of significant changes in the ratio of sensitive and resistant to the action of antimicrobial drugs strains of N. gonorrhoeae that is a consequence of the effectiveness of the RU-GASP program, which allowed to exclude in time from therapeutic use the drugs for which a high proportion of the identified resistant strains was observed. Conclusion. Analysis of RU-GASP results over a 16-year period confirms the use of third-generation cephalosporins (Ceftriaxone, Cefixime) as the drugs of choice for therapy of gonococcal infection, and the aminocyclic antibiotic spectinomycin as an alternative drug. The continued evolution of the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance of N. gonorrhoeae dictates the need to continue the RU-GASP program