Gene sequencing offers way to beat global spread of gonorrhoea

With drug-resistant strains of sexually-transmitted infection gonorrhoea increasing, scientists from Brighton, Oxford University and Public Health England have found that genetic sequencing can track the spread of infection. They show coordinated national and international strategies are required to stop drug-resistance spreading further. Their study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and the NIHR Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU), is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases today. It clearly shows that action to tackle antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea needs to be coordinated across national boundaries. However, using whole genome sequencing to track transmission of these infections is feasible. Dr David Eyre, Nuffield Department of Medicine - Using samples collected in Britain and the USA they aimed to find out if they could identify genetic evidence that individual cases were linked to each other. Dr David Eyre, who co-led the study, from Oxford University said: 'There are several potential applications of this study.