Antimicrobial resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics for N. meningitidis is rare
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Antimicrobial resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics for Neisseria meningitidis was rare among isolates collected from 2012 through 2016 for a study in the United States.
“Reduced susceptibility of Neisseria meningitis to clinically relevant antibiotics has historically been uncommon in the United States,” Henju Marjuki, PhD, a researcher in the CDC’s Division of Bacterial Diseases, told Healio.
“More recently, however, detection of a beta-lactamase-positive, penicillin-resistant meningococcal strain in the U.S. has led to guidance that health care providers should ascertain susceptibility of meningococcal isolates to penicillin before using penicillin or ampicillin for treatment,” Marjuki said.
Marjuki explained that the CDC previously published a study of N. meningitidis antimicrobial resistance in samples collected in 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Results of that study showed that resistance to antimicrobials used for empirical treatment of meningitis in the U.S. was not detected during those years.
“The present study assessed the antimicrobial susceptibility of N. meningitis isolates collected from 2012 to 2016 to determine if changes in susceptibility were observed during this time period compared to historical trends,” Marjuki said.
Marjuki and colleagues collected 695 meningococcal isolates through population-based surveillance from 2012 through 2016 and national surveillance from 2015 through 2016 and assessed them for antimicrobial susceptibility.
They found that all the isolates were susceptible to azithromycin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, meropenem, minocycline and rifampin, and that around 25% of isolates showed intermediate susceptibility to penicillin and ampicillin. Less than 1% of isolates were penicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin resistant.
Marjuki said that resistance to ciprofloxacin — used for meningococcal prophylaxis — has also been detected and that clinicians and public health staff should consider conducting antimicrobial susceptibility testing on meningococcal isolates to “inform prophylaxis decisions if their state has reported a case of meningococcal disease caused by ciprofloxacin-resistant strains within the past 2 years.”
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