Penicillinase-ProducingNeisseria gonorrhoeae— A Retrospective

Abstract

Five years ago, I wrote an editorial for the Journal on the treatment of infections due to Neisseria gonorrhoeae.1 Strains of N. gonorrhoeae that produced penicillinase (penicillinase-producing N. gonorrhoeae, or PPNG) had just been described. These isolates were almost completely resistant to treatment with penicillin² and were a cause of great concern among clinicians and public-health personnel. The editorial asked two somewhat rhetorical questions: First, would PPNG become so prevalent in the United States that it would render penicillin obsolete for the treatment of gonorrhea? (Penicillin had already become obsolete for this purpose in some areas of the . . .