typical gram-negative intracellular diplococci on microscopic examination of a smear of urethral exudate from men or endocervical secretions from women*.gonorrhoeae.Ī Presumptive diagnosis of gonorrhea is made on the basis of one of the following three criteria: sexual exposure to a person infected with N.a mucopurulent endocervical or urethral exudate on physical examination and.A definitive diagnosis of gonorrhea must be obtained for medicolegal purposes.Ī Suggestive diagnosis is defined by the presence of: Three levels of diagnosis are defined on the basis of clinical findings or the results of laboratory diagnostic tests. gonorrhoeae, the CDC has recommended criteria for reporting diagnoses of gonorrhea (15). gonorrhoeaeīecause of the serious social and medicolegal consequences of misdiagnosing gonorrhea or misidentifying strains of N. gonorrhoeae and will include not only traditional tests for the identification of this species but also discussions of rapid tests, problems associated with the tests, and the additional tests should be performed to identify a gram-negative, oxidase-positive diplococcal strain. This page is designed to provide information relating to the accurate identification of N. gonorrhoeae that may aid in differentiating between N. The purpose of this, and other, pages in this section is to provide information, including illustrations, of characteristics of N. gonorrhoeae unless appropriate differential tests are performed. Several Neisseria and related species may be misidentified as N. gonorrhoeae be identified and reported as N. gonorrhoeae in acid detection testsīecause investigations of sexual abuse may be initiated on the basis of a laboratory diagnosis of gonorrhea, it is important that only strains of N. Species which may be misidentified as N.