Isolation of a penicillinase producing strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

A gram-negative diplococcus with the qualifications of a gonococcus was isolated from the urethra of a male infected with gonorrhoea in the Far East. The strain proved to be resistant to penicillin G and ampicillin as judged by the paper disc sensitivity test. The resistance was found to be caused by a powerful production of penicillinase which not only acted on penicillin G and ampicillin, but also on methicillin and partly on cephalosporin (cephalotin) by the test employed.