Penicillinase-producing Gonococci in Liverpool.

Gonococci, which had acquired a TEM-type of penicillinase widely distributed among gram-negative bacilli, appeared in February, 1976, and soon accounted for 9% of isolates at a clinic in Liverpool. In 45 patients infected by such gonococci, the frequency of complications did not suggest reduced communicability or invasiveness, and usual forms of treatment with penicillins always failed. Spectinomycin succeeded in 21 (95%) of 22 patients treated, blt tetracyclines succeeded in only 13 (68%) of 19. Appropriate laboratory tests for recognising penicillinase-producing gonococci must be used since such gonococci have already been transferred to other parts of the U.K. Penicillinase-stable cephalosporins were active in vitro and could prove to be the future treatment of choice.