Mycoplasma genitalium in non-gonococcal urethritis--a study in Swedish male STD patients

Int J STD AIDS. 2000 May;11(5):292-6. doi: 10.1177/095646240001100504.

Abstract

Urethral swab specimens obtained from 101 men attending an STD clinic were examined for the presence of Mycoplasma genitalium by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Fifty patients had non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), and 51 patients were included as controls without urethritis. M. genitalium DNA was detected in 13 (26%) of the urethritis patients and in 5 (10%) of the control patients (P=0.06). No patient positive for M. genitalium had a simultaneous chlamydial infection. Thus, in the 36 patients with non-chlamydial NGU, the prevalence of M. genitalium infection was 36% (P=0.007 compared with controls). All patients with M. genitalium positive urethritis had a high grade urethritis defined as >10 polymorphonuclear cells per high power microscopical field. Compared with the control group, those with M. genitalium positive urethritis had more often had a history of urethritis than had those with chlamydial NGU or those with M. genitalium negative, non-chlamydial NGU.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Chlamydia trachomatis
  • DNA, Bacterial / analysis
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mycoplasma / drug effects
  • Mycoplasma / isolation & purification*
  • Mycoplasma Infections / epidemiology
  • Mycoplasma Infections / microbiology*
  • Mycoplasma Infections / pathology
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae
  • Neutrophils
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Prevalence
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial / epidemiology
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial / microbiology*
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial / pathology
  • Sweden / epidemiology
  • Urethritis / epidemiology
  • Urethritis / microbiology*
  • Urethritis / pathology

Substances

  • DNA, Bacterial