Emerging epidemic of the Africa-type plasmid in penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Guangdong, China, 2013–2022

作者：Xiao-Lin Qin, Yang Chen, Xing Wu, Wentao Chen, Yaohua Xue, Jinmei Huang, San-Mei Tang, Yinyuan Lan, Zhanqin Feng, Han Zhou, Ziyan Zhang, Qing-Xian Zhan, Kui Chenga, Heping Zheng · 发表于：Emerging Microbes & Infections · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1080/22221751.2024.2440489 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Reproductive tract infections research、Bacterial Infections and Vaccines、Streptococcal Infections and Treatments

The prevalence of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) is a crucial public health concern because of its resistance to penicillin and cephalosporins. From 2013 to 2022, a total of 1,748 N. gonorrhoeae isolates from Guangdong, China, were examined for their antibiotic susceptibility and molecular epidemiological characteristics. PPNG prevalence increased markedly from 37.25% to 63.87%. This increase was accompanied by a shift in predominant plasmid types carried by PPNG isolates: the rate of PPNG isolates carrying the Africa-type plasmid increased from 18.42% to 91.55%, whereas the rate of isolates carrying the Asia-type plasmid decreased from 81.58% to 7.58%. The prevalence of blaTEM-135, which is linked to cephalosporin resistance, declined from 52.63% to 4.37%, whereas that of blaTEM-1 increased from 47.37% to 86.88%, and new blaTEM variants emerged (10.99% by 2022). Most blaTEM-1 (88.26%) and new blaTEM alleles (83.70%) were associated with the Africa-type plasmid, whereas 86.79% of blaTEM-135 alleles were linked to the Asia-type plasmid. Resistance to ceftriaxone was higher in the Asia-type group (11.67%) than in the Africa-type, Toronto/Rio-type and non-PPNG groups. Genotyping identified diverse sequence types (STs) among PPNGs, in which MLST ST7363, NG-STAR ST2477, NG-MAST ST17748, and NG STAR CC1124 were predominant. This study underscores the rising prevalence of PPNG in Guangdong driven by clonal expansion and changing plasmid dynamics, affecting ceph...