A systematic review of Neisseria gonorrhoeae drug resistance development in South Africa

In South Africa, basic healthcare centres treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs) using a syndromic approach.

In line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations, a complete study of all randomised controlled trials and surveillance data relevant to N. gonorrhoeae antibiotic resistance was conducted.

To discover papers published between 2002 and 2022, searches were undertaken using PubMed, EMBASE and any other relevant databases.

This systematic review extracted a total of 463 articles published between 2002 and 2022 from a variety of online research sources.

Seven South African provinces were represented in the studies that were assessed.

Mpumalanga and the North West Province did not have any studies that described the identification and monitoring of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

This study presents data obtained from a comprehensive analysis of 2140 isolates, in which we examined the presence of one or more antibiotic resistance.

Our findings revealed that out of these samples, 1891 isolates exhibited antimicrobial properties; tetracycline was the antimicrobial resistance that was found the most often (30%), followed by ciprofloxacin (19%) and penicillin (17%).

The mean of the isolates was 143, the upper 95% mean was 243, and the standard deviation (SD) was 181.6.

All microbiological identification and susceptibility testing processes must be standardised and improved so national organisations can monitor AMR.

The nation’s health community must address all identified areas of concern to avoid AMR.