Detection of genital mycoplasmal infections among infertile females by multiplex PCR.
OBJECTIVE
Women reproductive system is a suitable environment for growth of various pathogen and nonpathogenic microorganisms. Mycoplasmataceae is a family of bacteria which cause oligosymptomatic genital infections. The complications caused by these bacteria may lead to infertility in women. The aim of this study was detection of genital Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasmaurealyticum and Mycoplasma genitalium among infertile females who referred to the infertility clinics.


METHODS
A total of 104 infertile women (in reproductive age) who referred to infertility clinics in the city of Sanandaj, Kurdistan, Iran, from February to May 2013 were selected for this study. Cervical swabs were collected from all patients. The presence of genital Mycoplasmas was detected by multiplex-PCR. All data were analyzed statistically.


RESULTS
Out of 104 patients, 39 cases (37.5%) were infected with U. urealyticum. Mycuplasma. genitalium and M. homimis were detected in 3 (2.9%) of the infertile women. Co-infection was seen in 3.8% of the patients. There was no statistically the infections and patient age, educational levels, literacy, situation of employment, age of first significant sexual intercourse, history of abortion, type of infertility and infertility duration (p value > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The data showed a low percentage of infection for M. genitalium and M. hominis in the studied women while the prevalence of U. urealyticum was high. Despite having no symptoms of an ongoing acute inflammation of the reproductive tract, many women may have genital mycoplasmas in the cervix. We concluded that multiplex PCR using a pair of primers is a useful and cost-effective method for diagnosis of female genital infections.
Student Research Committee and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
Atefeh
A
Mousavi
Kurdistan Research Center for Social Determinant of Health (KRCSDH) and Department of Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
Fariba
F
Farhadifar
Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Reza
R
Mirnejad
Cellular & Molecular Research Center and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
Rashid
R
Ramazanzadeh
Mycoplasma genitalium; Mycoplasma hominis; PCR; Ureaplasmaurealyticum