CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes gonococcal infection, a condition that is almost exclusively transmitted by sexual intercourse. Isolation and identification of this microorganism is the gold standard for the definitive diagnosis of gonorrhoea and for medico-legal purposes.Prepubertal girls with N.gonorrhoeae infection have always a purulent vaginal discharge with vaginal erythema and occasionally a history of sexual abuse. The susceptibility of N. gonorrhoeae to different antibiotics has changed over the time and isolation surveillance for antibiotics susceptibility is important requiring regular testing in all cases to prevent treatment failure. During the study period a total of 587 prepubertal girls (6 months to 8.5 years) with vulvovaginitis and without a history of abuse were evaluated. Specific vulvovaginitis was diagnosed in 215 patients (36.6%) and 372 (63.4%) had non-specific vulvovaginitis. In 9 patients N. gonorrhoeaewas isolated from vaginal specimens.The age of the children with this microorganism ranged from 1.3-8.5 years. N. gonorrhoeaewas also isolated in 2 household from 5 family patients studied. Four strains were fully susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested and five were resistant to one or more of them. Conclusion:Due to the high prevalence of gonococcal infection in prepubertal girls without suspected child abuse, N. gonorrhoeae should be investigated employing specific culture media, appropriate identification tests and confirmatory tests should be done for medico-legal purposes. N.gonorrhoeae isolation in prepubertal girls is strongly suggestive of sexual abuse and specific treatment should be use to prevent chronic infection and future infertility.