Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Laboratory Information
Through CDC’s AR Lab Network, the Maryland and Washington State Public Health Labs offer nationwide gradient strip method antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)—at no cost—to assist in care of patients with potentially drug-resistant gonorrhea infections. Details in this fact sheet.
- Etest®: Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Neisseria gonorrhoeae– online training provides an overview of proper set up and interpretation of the Etest® method of antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
- Culture Handling Procedure
- Testing
- Disk Diffusion
- B88 document – Neisseria gonorrhoeae reference strains for antimicrobial susceptibility testing The following corrections to this document should be noted (see pg. 6, Recommended Testing and Confirmatory Testing(https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/drug-resistant/b88-feb-2005.pdf#page=6).
Healthcare providers and health departments can report suspected gonorrhea cephalosporin treatment failure or any N. gonorrhoeae specimen with decreased cephalosporin susceptibility through the Suspected Gonorrhea Treatment Failure Consultation Form.
CDC also recommends that isolates from certain infections be submitted to the CDC STD Lab for confirmation. These infections comprise those that fail to respond to CDC-recommended therapy and isolates determined to exhibit intermediate resistance or resistance.
- Agar Dilution
- Disk Diffusion
- Interpretive Criteria
- Gonorrhea Laboratory Information – Definitions, testing, identification, characteristics, strain typing and resources.