Prevalence and horizontal propagation of gonococcal infections among Nigerian children

The prevalence and mode of spread of gonococcal infections was studied among prepubertal children in Nigeria. Of 16 children with symptoms suggestive of sexually transmissible diseases (STD), 9 (56%) had gonorrhoea, while no causative organism was found in 7. The majority (7; 78%) of the gonococcal isolates produced penicillinase. Three of the cases were by child-to-child transmission, with female peers as the initiators. Prepubertal children should no longer be ignored as propagators of STD.