Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Corynebacterium genitalium recovered from the lower genital tracts of adolescent women.
The lower genital tracts of 137 adolescent women were examined for the presence of Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Corynebacterium genitalium in relation to sexual activity, previous pregnancy, presence of vaginal discharge and oral contraceptive use. None of the sexually inactive and 10% of the sexually active adolescent females were colonized with U. urealyticum. None of the sexually inactive and 4% of the sexually active adolescent females were colonized with C. genitalium. Nineteen percent of the sexually inactive and 36% of the sexually active adolescent females were colonized with M. hominis. The presence of M. hominis in the lower genital tract was not associated with any clinically identifiable vaginal discharge or inflammatory changes in exfoliated cervical and vaginal epithelial cells. The presence of M. hominis in the lower genital tract did not appear to be related to the use of oral contraceptives or antecedent pregnancy. There was no significant difference in the recovery rates of these microorganisms when we compared women who had non-specific vaginitis with those who did not. There is no evidence from this study that any of these microorganisms is responsible for non-specific vaginitis.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002648:Child; D003352:Corynebacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014509:Ureaplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D014627:Vaginitis / Q000175:diagnosis