Gonorrhoea proctitis in men who have sex with men: The importance of performing culture specimens for antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Rates of Neisseria gonorrhoea in MSM continue to increase in Europe. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in gonorrhoea is increasing and surveillance relies on the taking and sensitivity of gonorrhoea culture specimens. It has been estimated that between 16-50% of MSM with rectal gonorrhoea have ano-rectal symptoms; therefore most MSM with rectal gonorrhoea are asymptomatic and are diagnosed from screening using nucleic acid amplification tests(NAAT). We aimed to describe the prevalence of rectal symptoms, audit the performance and determine the sensitivity of direct culture of MSM with rectal gonorrhoea in our large clinic population.