Gonorrhea in women prostitutes: clinical data and auxotypes, serovars, plasmid contents of PPNG, and susceptibility profiles.

Eighty-nine women prostitutes who underwent clinical and microbiologic examination were found to have gonococcal infection. The median age was 22; 92.1% were from urban areas. Nearly all the women prostitutes refrained from barrier methods (92.1%) and had contact with several partners (91.0%). The most frequent clinical findings were leukorrhea (50.6%), cervicitis (20.2%), and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) (18.0%). Eighty-one women prostitutes (93.1%) had experienced a previous STD, with Chlamydia trachomatis (34.8%), Trichomonas vaginalis (30.3%), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (29.2%), and Ureaplasma urealyticum (23.6%) as the most frequent microorganisms isolated. Microorganisms associated with N. gonorrhoeae were isolated, mainly T. vaginalis (40.4%), C. trachomatis (31.5%), and Mycoplasma hominis (21.3%). For N. gonorrhoeae, the most frequent auxotypes were prototrophic (67.4%) and Proline (Pro)-dependent (14.6%); 2.2% of the strains were non-auxotypable. Beta-lactamase production was detected in three strains (3.4%) belonging to the auxotype/serovar: Lys/IA, Prototrophic/IB, and Pro/IB. The two former produced the 3.2-MDa "African" plasmid; the latter produced two plasmids (the 4.5-MDa "Asian" and the 24.5-MDa transfer plasmid.