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Review
. 2020 Jan 31;9(2):91.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens9020091.

The Laboratory Diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Current Testing and Future Demands

Thomas Meyer  1 , Susanne Buder  2
Affiliations
Review

The Laboratory Diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Current Testing and Future Demands

Thomas Meyer et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

The ideal laboratory test to detect Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) should be sensitive, specific, easy to use, rapid, and affordable and should provide information about susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs. Currently, such a test is not available and presumably will not be in the near future. Thus, diagnosis of gonococcal infections presently includes application of different techniques to address these requirements. Microscopy may produce rapid results but lacks sensitivity in many cases (except symptomatic urogenital infections in males). Highest sensitivity to detect Ng was shown for nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAATs), which, however, are less specific than culture. In addition, comprehensive analysis of antibiotic resistance is accomplished only by in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing of cultured isolates. As a light at the end of the tunnel, new developments of molecular techniques and microfluidic systems represent promising opportunities to design point-of-care tests for rapid detection of Ng with high sensitivity and specificity, and there is reason to hope that such tests may also provide antimicrobial resistance data in the future.

Keywords: NAAT; antimicrobial resistance; culture; diagnostic; gonorrhea; microfluidic; microscopy; point-of-care test.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gram stain from a male urethral swab, depiction of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) with Gram-negative intracellular diplococci. The left and right picture represent two different microscopic slides prepared from the same swab.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Culture of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) from a male urethral swab.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Disc diffusion assay (exemplary, no presentation of Ng testing). Photo by Andreas Gross (MVZ Laboratory Krone GbR, Bad Salzuflen, Germany).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) gradient strip test method.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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