page_title: Neisseria gonorrhoeae
section_title: Culture and identification
hierarchical_section_title: Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Microbiology / Culture and identification
context_page_description: Neisseria gonorrhoeae, also known as gonococcus, or gonococci is a species of Gram-negative diplococci bacteria isolated by Albert Neisser in 1879. It causes the sexually transmitted genitourinary infection gonorrhea as well as other forms of gonococcal disease including disseminated gonococcemia, septic arthritis, and gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum.
  It is oxidase positive and aerobic, and it survives within neutrophils. Culturing it requires carbon dioxide supplementation and enriched agar with various antimicrobials. It exhibits antigenic variation through recombination of its pili and surface proteins that interact with the immune system.
  Sexual transmission is possible through vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Sexual transmission may be prevented through the use of barrier protection. Perinatal transmission may occur during childbirth, and may be prevented by antibiotic treatment of the mother before birth and the application of antibiotic eye gel on the eyes of the newborn. After an episode of gonococcal infection, infected persons do not develop immunity to future infections.
context_section_description: N. gonorrhoeae is usually isolated on Thayer-Martin agar (or VPN) agar in an environment enriched with 3-7% carbon dioxide. Thayer-Martin agar is a chocolate agar plate (heated blood agar) containing nutrients and antimicrobials (vancomycin, colistin, nystatin, and trimethoprim). This agar preparation facilitates the growth of Neisseria species while inhibiting the growth of contaminating bacteria and fungi. Martin Lewis and New York City agar are other types of selective chocolate agar commonly used for Neisseria growth. N. gonorrhoeae is oxidase positive (possessing cytochrome c oxidase) and catalase positive (able to convert hydrogen peroxide to oxygen). When incubated with the carbohydrates lactose, maltose, sucrose, and glucose, N. gonorrhoeae will oxidize only the glucose.
caption: Thayer-Martin agar is selective for growth of Neisseria species. Further testing (oxidase, Gram stain, carbohydrate use) is needed to differentiate N. gonorrhoeae from N. meningitidis
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