To Örebro University

The emergence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with decreased susceptibility to cephalosporins and azithromycin resistance (AZM-R) represent a public health threat of untreatable gonorrhoea infections. Genomic epidemiology through whole genome sequencing was used to describe the emergence, dissemination, and spread of AZM-R strains. The genomes of 213 AZM-R and 23 AZM-susceptible N. gonorrhoeae isolates collected in Canada from 1989 to 2014 were sequenced. Core single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) phylogenomic analysis resolved 246 isolates into 13 lineages. High-level AZM-R (minimum inhibitory concentration ≥256 μg/ml) was found in 5 phylogenetically diverse isolates, all of which possessed the A2059G mutation (Escherichia coli numbering) in all four 23S rRNA alleles. One high-level AZM-R isolate collected in 2009 concurrently had decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone (MIC=0.125 μg/ml). An increase in the number of 23S rRNA alleles with the C2611T mutations (E. coli numbering) conferred low to moderate AZM-R (2 to 4 and 8 to 32 μg/mL, respectively). Low level AZM-R was also associated with mtrR promoter mutations including -35A deletion and the presence of N. meningitidis-like sequences. Geographic and temporal phylogenetic clustering indicate emergent AZM-R strains arise independently and can then rapidly expand clonally in a region through local sexual networks.