Antibiotic resistance, plasmid profile, auxotypes and serovars of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains isolated in Sevilla (Spain).

The antibiotics resistance pattern, the plasmid profile, the auxotypes and serotypes of 116 Neisseria gonorrhoeae clinical isolates obtained in one year were examined. The incidence of penicillinase producing (PPNG) strains was 12% (14 strains). The most frequent plasmid pattern was the combination of 4.5, 2.6 and 24.5 MDa plasmids. The conjugative plasmid of 24.5 MDa showed a high prevalence (32% of the total strains), and almost all the PPNG strains harboured this plasmid. The strains with the 4.5 MDa plasmid belonged to the auxotypes Pro-, Zero and Pro-Hyx-Ura-, whereas that with the 3.2 MDa plasmid was of auxotype Pro-Hyx-His-. The serotypes Aedih/Arst (WI serogroup) and Bak/Bropt, Back/Bropyt and Bak/Bropyt (WII/III serogroup) were predominant.