Colorado's Center of Excellence for Gonorrhea
Strengthening the U.S. Response to Resistant Gonorrhea - SURRG
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been involved in surveillance for resistant gonorrhea for decades. Currently, two large multi-site projects are in place: GISP and SURRG. Antibiotic susceptibility testing is an activity common to both GISP and SURRG. Clinicians are asked to report any gonorrhea specimen with decreased cephalosporin susceptibility and any gonorrhea cephalosporin treatment failure to their state public health agency.
Antibiotic Resistant Gonorrhea Surveillance Projects
GISP: The Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) was established in 1986 to monitor antibiotic resistance (AR) trends in N. gonorrhoeae bacteria in the US. In GISP, N. gonorrhoeae specimens are collected each month from the first 25 men who attend STD clinics in selected U.S. cities and who have also been diagnosed with urethral gonorrhea. Participating regional laboratories test the specimens for resistance to the antibiotic drugs azithromycin, cefixime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, penicillin, and tetracycline. (https://www.cdc.gov/std/gisp/default.htm)
SURRG: Strengthening the U.S. Response to Resistant Gonorrhea (SURRG) began in 2016 to enhance domestic gonorrhea surveillance and infrastructure, build capacity for rapid detection and response to resistant gonorrhea through increased culturing and local antibiotic susceptibility testing and rapid field investigation to stop the spread of resistant infections. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in collaboration with Institute of Public Health and Denver Health have been involved with SURRG since 2016.
Treatment Failure Concerns Resources
Dr. Karen Wendel is the Director of HIV/STD Prevention and Control Division at the Public Health Institute at Denver Health. In this capacity, she works with the Denver Sexual Health Clinic (DSHC) and Denver Prevention Training Center (DPTC) to promote STD education and care in our region and is the Medical Director for the CO SURRG Project. Through the DPTC, Dr. Wendel and her team can provide clinical consultation if you suspect GC treatment failure in a client. Consultation can be accessed through the STD Clinical Consultation Network (STDCCN).
If you suspect your patient may be a treatment failure and your clinic or agency cannot perform a gonorrhea culture and susceptibility testing, our CO SURRG team can help coordinate culture testing and any necessary treatment through our partner site, the Denver Sexual Health Clinic. If the client is unable to commute to this clinic, culture testing supplies and susceptibility testing can be coordinated by the CO SURRG Team.
