Serovar specific immunity to Neisseria gonorrhoeae: does it exist?

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether the host immune response to gonorrhoea provides limited serovar specific protection from reinfection.

Subjects: 508 episodes of gonorrhoea diagnosed at a city centre genitourinary medicine clinic including 22 patients with multiple infections over a 4 year period.

Methods: Patients with recurrent gonococcal infection were analysed with respect to the initial and subsequent serovars isolated.

Results: No significant difference was seen in the prevalence of serovars isolated following a repeat infection compared with those without repeat infections. The site of the initial infection did not appear to influence the subsequent serovar isolated.

Conclusion: We found no evidence of serovar specific immunity in our population. It remains possible that populations with a higher prevalence of gonorrhoea and more frequent infections may have a quantitatively greater immune response.