The spread of chloramphenicol-resistant Neisseria meningitidis in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Invasive disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis is a significant health concern globally, but our knowledge of the prevailing serogroups, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and genetics of N. meningitidis in Southeast Asia is limited. Chloramphenicol resistance in N. meningitidis has rarely been reported, but was first described in isolates from Vietnam in 1998. Using whole-genome sequencing of meningococcal isolates from 18 patients collected between 2007 and 2018 from diagnostic microbiology laboratories in Cambodia, Thailand and the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (Laos), of which eight were non-susceptible to chloramphenicol, we report the spread of this chloramphenicol-resistant lineage of N. meningitidis across Southeast Asia. Strains resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin were also observed, including a chloramphenicol-resistant strain from the previously-described lineage which has acquired penicillin and ciprofloxacin resistance, and most isolates were of serogroup B. This study suggests that chloramphenicol-resistant N. meningitidis is more widespread than previously thought.