Assessing the need for routine screening for Mycoplasma genitalium in the low-risk female population: A prevalence and co-infection study on women from Croatia

• Published in: International journal of preventive medicine Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 51
• Main Authors: Ljubin-Sternak, Sunčanica, Meštrović, Tomislav, Kolarić, Branko, Jarža-Davila, Neda, Marijan, Tatjana, Vraneš, Jasmina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.01.2017; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Analysis; Bacteria; Brief Communication; Cervical swabs; Chlamydia; Chlamydia trachomatis; Condoms; Epidemiology; Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; Health risks; Health screening; Infections; Infertility; Inflammatory diseases; Laboratories; Medicine; Mens health; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasma genitalium; Mycoplasma hominis; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Phosphates; Polymerase chain reaction; Population; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Primary care; Public health; Risk factors; screening; Sexually transmitted diseases; sexually transmitted infections; Urine; Women's health; Womens health; Croatia; Germany; Mycoplasma hominis; screening; Cervical swabs; Chlamydia trachomatis; Mycoplasma genitalium; sexually transmitted infections
• ISSN: 2008-7802; 2008-8213
• DOI: 10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_309_16

Background: There is an ongoing debate regarding possible cost and benefits, but also harm of universal screening for the emerging sexually transmitted pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium. Methods: From the initial pool of 8665 samples that were tested, a subset of Chlamydia trachomatis-positive and randomly selected C. trachomatis-negative cervical swabs were further interrogated for M. genitalium by real-time polymerase chain reaction, using a 224 bp long fragment of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene. Results: M. genitalium was detected in 4.8% of C. trachomatis-positive samples and none of C. trachomatis-negative samples. Accordingly, a significant association was shown between M. genitalium and C. trachomatis (P < 0.01), but also between M. genitalium and Mycoplasma hominis infection (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Based on the results, routine screening is recommended only for women with one or more identified risk factors. Moreover, younger age does not represent an appropriate inclusion/exclusion criterion for M. genitalium testing in the low-risk female population.