Prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma hominis and Chlamydia trachomatis in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to assess the prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum (U. urealyticum), Mycoplasma hominis (M. hominis) and Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) in a Romanian population considering the presence or absence of genital symptoms. Urethral and vaginal samples were collected from patients presenting at 'Ponderas' Academic Hospital (Bucharest, Romania) from January 2021 to December 2021. A total of 266 samples were obtained from two groups of patients: Symptomatic subjects with urethritis, prostatitis, vaginitis or both urethritis and prostatitis (n=59; 22%), and asymptomatic subjects (n=207; 78%). Mycoplasma and Chlamydia kits were used to assess the presence of U. urealyticum and M. hominis, and C. trachomatis, respectively. The symptomatic subjects comprised 27 patients with urethritis symptoms, of whom 4 (15%) were infected with U. urealyticum and 1 (4%) was infected with C. trachomatis. In addition, 23 (9%) of the patients had prostatitis-like symptoms, which in 3 (13%) of the patients was associated with U. urealyticum and in 1 patient (4%) was associated with C. trachomatis. None of the symptomatic patients were infected with M. hominis. By contrast, 29 (14%) of the asymptomatic patients were discovered to be infected with U. urealyticum, 13 (6%) were coinfected with both Mollicutes and 4 (2%) were infected with C. trachomatis; only 1 patient was positive for M. hominis alone. Two patients (14%) who presented with U. urealyticum and M. hominis coinfection were also infected with C. trachomatis. No patient with U. urealyticum or M. hominis alone was also positive for C. trachomatis. Therefore, the most frequently identified pathogen populating the genital tract in both males and females was U. urealyticum, followed by coinfection with U. urealyticum and M. hominis, and C. trachomatis. As these infections are asymptomatic in numerous cases, this suggests that a thorough screening should be mandatory.

Keywords: Chlamydia; Mycoplasma; Ureaplasma; genital symptoms; prevalence.