Expanding U.S. Laboratory Capacity for Neisseria gonorrhoeae Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and Whole-Genome Sequencing through the CDC's Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network

U.S. gonorrhea rates are rising, and antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (AR-Ng) is an urgent public health threat. Since implementation of nucleic acid amplification tests for N. gonorrhoeae identification, the capacity for culturing N. gonorrhoeae in the United States has declined, along with the ability to perform culture-based antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Yet AST is critical for detecting and monitoring AR-Ng.