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Gonorrhea, caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, is the second most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection in Canada; ≈13,000 cases occur yearly, and rates have increased from 20.1 cases/100,000 population in 2000 to 39.2 cases/100,000 in 2013 (1). The infection is also a global public health threat, with ≈106 million cases/year occurring worldwide (2). Gonococci have acquired resistance to many antimicrobial agents used for treatment (3), however, which makes it imperative to conduct surveillance programs so appropriate treatment recommendations can be determined. In 2011, the increases in MICs of cephalosporins prompted the authors of the Canadian Sexually Transmitted Infections Guidelines to update the recommended gonorrhea treatment from a single antimicrobial drug to combination therapy with ceftriaxone (250 mg intramuscularly) and azithromycin (1 g orally in a single dose) as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated anogenital and pharyngeal N. gonorrhoeae infections in adults (4). We analyzed antimicrobial drug susceptibility levels of N. gonorrhoeae to cephalosporins and azithromycin in Canada since the recommended treatments were updated in 2011.

We report emergence of ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Kentucky in Canada during 2003-2009. All isolates had similar macrorestriction patterns and were multilocus sequence type ST198, which has been observed in Europe and Africa. Ciprofloxacin-resistant S. enterica serovar Kentucky represents 66% of all ciprofloxacin-resistant nontyphoidal Salmonella sp. isolates observed in Canada since 2003.

Recent emergence of infections resulting from this strain is of public health concern., Rates of colonization with livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) sequence type 398 have been high for pigs and pig farmers in Canada, but prevalence rates for the general human population are unknown. In this study, 5 LA-MRSA isolates, 4 of which were obtained from skin and soft tissue infections, were identified from 3,687 tested MRSA isolates from persons in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada. Further molecular characterization determined that these isolates all contained staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) mecV, were negative for Panton-Valentine leukocidin, and were closely related by macrorestriction analysis with the restriction enzyme Cfr91. The complete DNA sequence of the SCCmec region from the isolate showed a novel subtype of SCCmecV harboring clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated genes. Although prevalence of livestock-associated MRSA seems to be low for the general population in Canada, recent emergence of infections resulting from this strain is of public health concern.