Shao-Chun Chen

Institute of Dermatology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences &Peking Union Medical College · Reference lab

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between a ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain GX211022, isolated from China, and MLST ST13871 strains reported internationally. In this study, we determined the susceptibility of the N. gonorrhoeae isolate to antibiotics using the agar dilution method. Genotyping wa...

Objective This study aimed to assess the drug susceptibility of clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to spectinomycin, ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Moreover, the temporal trends in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of five antibiotics from Zhejiang, China, are also in the scope of this study. Methods A total of 1710 gonococcal clin...

Background: This study evaluated the clinical laboratory capacity for the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) in China, in order to provide recommendations to improve the diagnostic capacity and quality of this clinically important sexually transmitted disease. Methods: An electronic questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey study was condu...

In this study, the performance of eight commercially available treponemal antibody tests was evaluated. Higher specificity was achieved in the automated chemiluminescence immunoassays(CIA assays) than enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assays, but no significant differences were found in terms of the sensitivity levels. The levels of test sensitiv...

Objective An increasing level of antimicrobial resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins has been reported, so we conducted this study to investigate the molecular characteristics of cephalosporin resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae ( NG ) strains isolated from China Gonococcal Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Programme (China-GRSP). Methods...

The continued emergence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates which are resistant to first-line antibiotics has reinvigorated interest in alternative therapies such as expanded use of gentamicin (Gen). We hypothesized that expanded use of Gen promotes emergence of gonococci with clinical resistance to this aminoglycoside. To understand how decreased su...

Purpose This study aimed to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of ertapenem on Neisseria gonorrhoeae collected from eight Chinese provinces in 2018. Methods The MICs of ertapenem on 503 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates (415 isolates selected randomly and 88 isolates selected with preference) were measured using the agar dilution...

Background: Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae) is now recognized as a commonly reported sexually transmitted pathogen, and the increasing drug resistance of N. gonorrhoeae has become a serious public health problem. The accuracy of molecular detection for detecting moderate-level azithromycin resistance is not well-established. We summarized t...

Purpose The study aimed to evaluate meropenem, fosfomycin, berberine hydrochloride, and doxycycline minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae collected from eight provinces in China in 2018. Methods The MICs of 540 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates (451 isolates selected randomly and 89 isolates selected with preference) were...

Objectives China has a high burden of gonorrhea, but an imbalanced male-to-female (M/F) ratio of reported cases. Therefore, the prevalence of gonorrhea in China may be underestimated due to inadequate testing of potentially infected females. The objective of this study is to investigate the cause of this imbalanced M/F ratio and develop strategies...

Background: Development and emergence of resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) to antimicrobials have become a major public health problem worldwide. The aim of our study was to analyze antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular characteristics of NG isolates in Shenzhen. Methods: A total of 1,282 NG isolates were consecutively collected betw...

Purpose Injectable ceftriaxone and oral cefixime are the last agents effective against Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In vitro antimicrobial-susceptibility testing (AST) is done to identify the most efficacious antibiotic needed to combat the infection in that particular individual. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether Kirby–Bauer (KB) disk-...

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae) becomes a grave public health problem in the world. A strengthened Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program is needed to track the trend of AMR development. However, the lack of a proper antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) method is a barrier to expand th...

Background: Ceftriaxone resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has become an imminent threat to effective control of gonorrhoea globally. In recent years, the ceftriaxone-resistant FC428 clone has shown international dissemination. After our first report of the FC428 clone in China in 2016, we now describe another six cases of FC428-related ceftriaxo...

Global dissemination of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae ceftriaxone-resistant FC428 clone jeopardizes the currently recommended ceftriaxone-based first-line therapies. Ceftriaxone resistance in the FC428 clone has been associated with presence of its mosaic penA allele 60.001. Here we investigated the contribution penA allele 60.001 to ceftriaxone resist...

We report a recent (2018) gonorrhoeal urethritis caused by a multidrug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain in China. The isolated N. gonorrhoeae strain from a male and female pair expressed high-level resistance to spectinomycin (SPC), azithromycin, and other antibiotics but was sensitive to ceftriaxone. The SPC high-level resistance (MIC = 2048...

Background: Antimicrobial resistance to Neisseria gonorrhoeae has emerged for each of the antibiotics recommended as first-line therapies following their introduction into clinical practice. To improve rational and effective clinical antibiotic treatment, we analyzed the prescription patterns of antibiotics and their therapeutic effect in the trea...

Purpose Gentamicin is a promising antimicrobial for the treatment of gonorrhea. The study aimed to evaluate gentamicin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates in China. Methods In this study, the agar dilution method was used to determine the MICs of 470 isolates collected in 2016 to four effective antimicrobials...

In 2016, we identified a ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolate in China. The strain genotype was identical to the resistant clone FC428 that originated in Japan. Enhanced international collaborative surveillance programs are crucial to track the transmission of the ceftriaxone-resistant clones.

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to N. gonorrhoeae has emerged for each of the antibiotics following their introduction into clinical practice recommended as first-line therapies. To improve rational and effective clinical antibiotic treatment, we analyzed the prescription patterns of antibiotics and its therapeutic effect in the treatment...

Background Ceftriaxone has been used to treat gonorrhea in China for more than one decade, but an increasing level of decreased susceptibility or clinical resistance to ceftriaxone has been found. Moreover, the international spread ceftriaxone-resistant clones has been recognized as a threat to effective control of gonorrhea. We now describe an imp...

Fig. S1: eBURST analysis of 60 STs obtained from isolates collected in this study. eBURST analysis showing the ST relationship of 437 N. gonorrhoeae isolates sequenced in this study. The predicted founding genotype was colored in blue, while subgroup founders were colored in yellow. STs with single locus variance were linked with a solid line. Freq...

Background Tracking the spread of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with decreased susceptibility or resistance to cephalosporins is a major priority for global surveillance programmes. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has been widely used by increasing countries in North America, Europe, and Pacific to determine the decreased susceptible or resistanc...

Background Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistance to azithromycin has become a significant public health concern globally, and high-level azithromycin-resistant (HL-AzmR) isolates have emerged frequently. However, high-level azithromycin resistance is considered to be caused by mutated alleles of 23S rRNA gene at position 2059, and identification of HL-A...

Cephalosporin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major public health concern. N. gonorrhoeae of multiantigen sequence type G1407 and multilocus sequence type 1901 is an internationally spreading cephalosporin-resistant clone. We detected 4 cases of infection with this clone in China and analyzed resistance determinants by using N. gonorrhoeae seq...

Demographic and clinical information for 4 case-patients with cephalosporin-resistant NG-MAST G1407/MLST 1901 gonococcal infections identified through China’s Gonococcal Resistance Surveillance Program during 2015–2016, and results of isolate genotyping and resistance determinants analysis.

Background Gonorrhea remains one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Successful treatment has been hampered by emerging resistance to each of the antibiotics recommended as first-line therapies. We retrospectively analyzed the susceptibility of gonorrhea to azithromycin and ceftriaxone using data from the China Gonococcal Re...

Introduction The resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), which is the only remaining antibiotic in many regions for treatment of gonorrhoea, expressed by certain strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major public concern worldwide. The first “superbug” reported in Japan was referred to H041, which was found to have high level resista...

Introduction Gonococcal infections have been a major sexually transmitted disease (STD) since 1980s’and also a serious public health problem in China. A national surveillance report showed that the number of reported gonorrhoea cases were 1 00 245 in 2015. Resistant gonococcal infections are the obstacle in control work of the disease, which not on...

Objective: This study aimed to gain information on the antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular epidemiological typing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) isolates in China in 2012. Methods: A total of 244 NG isolates were consecutively recovered from patients with uncomplicated gonorrhea attending sexually transmitted disease clinics in 3 Chinese c...

Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major public health concern worldwide. This is the first nationwide study, performed within the China Gonococcal Antimicrobial Susceptibility Programme (China-GASP), regarding AMR, including ceftriaxone genetic resistance determinants, and molecular epidemiology of gonococci...

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major concern worldwide. It has been recently feared that the blaTEM-1 gene is, via blaTEM-135, evolving into an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL), which could degrade all cephalosporins including ceftriaxone. The aims of the present study were to characterize the blaTEM g...

Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major problem worldwide. This study investigated the AMR, genetic ceftriaxone resistance determinants and molecular epidemiology of N. gonorrhoeae in Nanjing, China. Methods: N. gonorrhoeae isolates were collected in 2007 (n = 198) and 2012 (n = 80). The susceptibility to c...

To evaluate the performance of the Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) among female sex workers (FSWs) in China. Cervical swabs from 997 participants were blindly detected by the Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay on the automated m2000 molecular platform and Roche Cobas Amplicor CT/NG ass...

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infection is a serious public health problem. The third-generation extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs) have been used as the first-line treatment for NG infection for almost three decades. However, in recent years, treatment failures with the oral third-generation ESCs have been reported worldwide. This study aimed to...

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) and their blaTEM-135 gene variant in 2007 and 2012 in Nanjing, China. In addition, molecular epidemiological typing of all isolates was performed to elucidate the genetic relationships of the PPNG strains. A total of 199 and 77 N. gonorrhoeae isol...

To determine seropositivity of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection and associated risk factors among female sex workers (FSWs) in Guangxi, China. A convenience sample of FSWs was recruited from different types of sex work venues in two cities (Wuzhou and Hezhou) in Guangxi. Blood specimens were collected for ELISA-based detection of HSV-2...

The objective of this study was to assess the distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis genovars in male sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic patients from 1 province in eastern China (Jiangsu) and 3 provinces in southern China (Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan). Urine specimens (n = 140) were collected from 46 public STD clinics in the 4 provinces....

Background: Rapid point-of-care (POC) syphilis tests based on simultaneous detection of treponemal and nontreponemal antibodies (dual POC tests) offer the opportunity to increase coverage of syphilis screening and treatment. This study aimed to conduct a multisite performance evaluation of a dual POC syphilis test in China. Methods: Participants...

To determine the prevalence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection and its coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. A convenience sample of 1462 MSM were recruited from different settings (an STD clinic, a health center, and MSM venues) in 3 cities in China. Blood sp...