Association of Mycoplasma genitalium with acute non-gonococcal urethritis.
Chlamydia trachomatis is known to be a cause of acute non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), though the aetiology of this disorder is not fully understood. Mycoplasma genitalium has been isolated from a few men with NGU, but culture has remained difficult and reliable detection became possible only with a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We have used the PCR to examine the role of M genitalium in NGU. M genitalium was detected in urethral samples from 24 (23%) of 103 men with symptoms, signs, or both, of acute NGU, but from only 3 (6%) of 53 men without NGU (p < 0.006). This association was independent of the presence of C trachomatis and could not be explained by differences in age, ethnic, origin, lifetime number of sexual partners or a change in sexual partner during the previous 3 months. The clinical response of the mycoplasma-positive men to doxycycline treatment was at least as satisfactory as that of the chlamydia-positive men. These findings suggest that the association of M genitalium with NGU is likely to be causal, a notion consistent with the known virulence characteristics of this microorganism and its ability to cause urethritis in male sub-human primates.
Horner
P J
PJ
Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex, UK.
Gilroy
C B
CB
Thomas
B J
BJ
Naidoo
R O
RO
Taylor-Robinson
D
D
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012747:Sexual Partners; D014526:Urethritis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000382:microbiology*