Bridging of Neisseria gonorrhoeae lineages across sexual networks in the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis era

Date

2019-09-05

Authors

Williamson, Deborah A
Chow, Eric
Gorrie, Claire Louise
Seemann, Torsten
Ingle, Danielle
Higgins, Nasra
Easton, Marion
Kwong, Jason
Fairley, Christopher K
Chen, Marcus Y

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)

Abstract

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been used to investigate transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but to date, most studies have not combined genomic data with detailed information on sexual behaviour to define the extent of transmission across population risk groups (bridging). Here, through combined epidemiological and genomic analysis of 2,186N. gonorrhoeae isolates from Australia, we show widespread transmission of N. gonorrhoeae within and between population groups. We describe distinct transmission clusters associated with men who have sex with men (MSM) and heterosexuals, and men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) are identified as a possible bridging population between these groups. Further, the study identifies transmission of N. gonorrhoeae between HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Our data highlight several groups that can be targeted for interventions aimed at improving gonorrhoea control, including returning travellers, sex workers, and PrEP users.

Description

Keywords

Antimicrobial resistance, Infectious-disease epidemiology, Policy and public health in microbiology, Risk factors

Citation

Source

Nature Communications

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access

License Rights

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.

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