Pharyngeal colonisation by Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis in black and white patients attending a venereal disease clinic.

Abstract

Pharyngeal colonization by N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis was studied in 2000 patients attending a venereal disease clinic. Of these patients, 64% were white and 36% were black. The incidence of gonococcal infections was highest from June-Aug. The incidence of genital or rectal infections or both, was higher in the black patients. Pharyngeal colonization by gonococci was present in 1.3% of the patients. There were no significant associations between pharyngeal colonization and the pharyngeal symptoms, race, sex or marital state of the patients. Pharyngeal colonization was more frequent in patients with gonococcal infections at other sites. In 40.7% of the patients with pharyngeal colonization, the pharynx was the only culture-positive site. There was no significant difference in the auxotypes or in the antibiotic susceptibility of the pharyngeal and the rectal-genital isolates, except in the susceptibility to spectinomycin. Gonococci isolated from the pharynx may not differ significantly from gonococci isolated from rectal or genital sites. Meningococcal colonization of the pharynx was significantly more frequent in the white patients. This may be a genetically determined phenomenon.