BECAUSE the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae increased during the early 1980s,1 in 1986 CDC implemented the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) to monitor antimicrobial susceptibilities at 21 collaborating sexually transmitted disease clinics in 21 cities.2 Each month, isolates from the first 20 men* with urethral gonococcal infections at each clinic are submitted to one of four regional laboratories for susceptibility testing. This report describes the results of surveillance for plasmid-mediated resistance in N. gon-orrhoeae in 1988 and 1989.
During these 2 years, 9309 gonococcal isolates (4620 in 1988 and 4689 in 1989) were collected from the 21 clinics. Strains were isolated primarily from black (76.6%), heterosexual (95.9%) men; the median age of the men was 25 years.
The susceptibilities (minimum inhibitory concentrations [MICs]) to penicillin, tetracycline, spectinomycin, and ceftriaxone were determined for each isolate. The definitions of susceptibility to these antimicrobial agents are those