Oropharyngeal Gonorrhea in Absence of Urogenital Gonorrhea in Sexual Network of Male and Female Participants, Australia, 2018

Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Jul;25(7):1373-1376. doi: 10.3201/eid2507.181561.

Abstract

We describe a sexual network consisting of 1 nonbinary-gendered participant and 2 male and 4 female participants in Australia, 2018. Six of 7 participants had oropharyngeal gonorrhea in the absence of urogenital gonorrhea. This observation supports a new paradigm of gonorrhea transmission in which oropharyngeal gonorrhea can be transmitted through tongue kissing.

Keywords: Australia; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; STIs; bacteria; disease transmission; gonorrhea; infectious; kissing; oropharyngeal gonorrhea; pharynx; sex network; sexually transmitted infections; transmission; urogenital gonorrhea; whole-genome sequencing.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Australia / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Genomics / methods
  • Gonorrhea / epidemiology*
  • Gonorrhea / history
  • Gonorrhea / microbiology*
  • Gonorrhea / transmission
  • History, 21st Century
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae / classification
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae / genetics
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae / isolation & purification
  • Pharyngitis / epidemiology*
  • Pharyngitis / history
  • Pharyngitis / microbiology*
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • Sex Workers*