Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme

Introduction The National Neisseria Network (NNN), Australia comprises reference laboratories in each state and territory that report data on susceptibilities for an agreed group of antimicrobial agents for the Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme (AGSP). The antibiotics are ceftriaxone, azithromycin, penicillin and ciprofloxacin; they represent current or potential agents used for the treatment of gonorrhoea. Ceftriaxone combined with azithromycin is the recommended treatment regimen for gonorrhoea in the majority of Australia. However, there are substantial geographic differences in gonococcal susceptibility patterns in Australia, with certain remote regions of the Northern Territory and Western Australia having low antimicrobial resistance rates. In these regions, an oral treatment regimen comprising amoxicillin, probenecid, and azithromycin is recommended for the treatment of gonorrhoea. Additional data on other antibiotics are reported in the AGSP Annual Report. The AGSP has a program-specific quality assurance process.