Ten years of external quality assessment (EQA) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility testing in Europe elucidate high reliability of data

Table 3 Different MIC and zone diameter breakpoints for cefixime, ceftriaxone, spectinomycin and ciprofloxacin used in the European gonococcal External Quality Assessments (EQAs) from 2007 to 2012

Antimicrobial agent	MIC (mg/L) and zone diameter (mm) breakpoints
Antimicrobial agent	S ≤	I	R >
Cefixime	0.06	≥0.12	–
	0.12	≥0.25	–
	0.12^a	–	0.12^a
	0.25^b	–	–
	≥31^c	–	–
Ceftriaxone	0.06	≥0.12	–
	0.12	≥0.25	–
	0.12^a	–	0.12^a
	0.25^b	–	–
	≥35^c	–	–
Spectinomycin	64^a	–	64^a
	32	–	32
	32^b	64^b	64^b
	≥18^c	15 – 17^c	≤14^c
Ciprofloxacin	0.03	0.06 - 0.5	0.5
	0.03	–	0.03
	0.03^a	–	0.06^a
	0.12	–	0.25
	0.06^b	0.12 - 0.5^a	0.5^b
	≥41^c	28 – 40^c	≤27^c

Note: Detailed interpretative MIC data was only available until 2012. Adherence to published breakpoints collected post-2012
^aCurrent EUCAST breakpoints [17]
^bCurrent CLSI breakpoints [16]
^cZone diameter breakpoints (mm)

ISSN: 1471-2334