Detection of urogenital mycoplasmas in clinical samples

Abstract

Urogenital mycoplasmas belonging to Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma genera, are both commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. The gold standard for their detection in clinical samples is culture and identification based on biochemical tests. However, this method is time-consuming and not very specific. Detection of mycoplasmas using PCR allows for assigning not only to the genus, but also to the species. In this study, 100 clinical samples were analyzed to identify M. hominis, M. genitalium, U. parvum and U. urealyticum, using both biochemical and molecular methods. The presented results confirm the low specificity of biochemical tests and the higher detection efficiency of individual species using molecular methods.