title: Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum in women of reproductive age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the incidence of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum (UP) in symptomatic and asymptomatic women of reproductive age and to estimate antibiotic susceptibility of ureaplasma isolates.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 424 ureaplasma positive women of 1,370 tested women who visited gynecological practices during 2010. Cervicovaginal or urethral swab specimens from each patient were obtained for cultivation and molecular typing by RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ureaplasma spp. was identified by cultivation in 424 (34.4 %) cases, of which 79.0 % were from women with symptoms and 21.0 % from women without symptoms. Among ureaplasma positive women, 121 (28.5 %) were pregnant. Genotyping was successful in 244 strains, and the majority of samples were identified as UP (92.6 %). Among genotyped isolates, there were 79.5 % from symptomatic and 20.5 % from asymptomatic women; 29.9 % from pregnant and 70.1 % from non-pregnant women. There was no difference in the incidence of ureaplasma type regarding symptoms. Antibiotic susceptibility of 424 ureaplasma isolates identified by cultivation showed that all strains were susceptible to doxycycline, josamycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, clarithromycin and pristinamycin, but there was lower susceptibility to quinolone antibiotics, i.e., 42.9 and 24.5 % isolates were susceptible to ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that UP was the most frequent isolated ureaplasma species (92.6 %). Regarding antibiotic susceptibility, quinolones are not the best choice for the treatment of ureaplasma infections, while macrolides and tetracyclines are still effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Bacteriology, Croatian National Institute of Public Health, Rockefellerova 2, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Blaženka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hunjak
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sabol
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vojnović
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fistonić
authors.forename: Andrea Babić
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Erceg
authors.forename: Zdenka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Peršić
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grce
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014509:Ureaplasma / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016869:Ureaplasma Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents