Assessing the Need for Routine Screening for Mycoplasma genitalium in the Low‑risk Female Population: A Prevalence and Co‑infection Study on Women from Croatia

International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-78021220170705Assessing the Need for Routine Screening for Mycoplasma genitalium in the Low‑risk Female Population: A Prevalence and Co‑infection Study on Women from Croatia18071807ENClinical Microbiology Department, Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, & Medical Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, ZagrebClinical Microbiology and Parasitology Unit, Polyclinic Dr. Zora Profozić", ZagrebEpidemiology Department, Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, Zagreb & Social Medicine and Epidemiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, RijekaClinical Microbiology Department, Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, ZagrebClinical Microbiology Department, Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, ZagrebClinical Microbiology Department, Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, & Medical Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb20170705Background: There is an ongoing debate regarding possible cost and benefts, but also harm of universal screening for the emerging sexually transmitted pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium. Methods: From the initial pool of 8665 samples that were tested, a subset of Chlamydia trachomatis‑positive and randomly selected C. trachomatis‑negative cervical swabs were further interrogated for M. genitalium by real‑time polymerase chain reaction, using a 224 bp long fragment of the glyceraldehyde‑3‑phosphate dehydrogenase gene. Results: M. genitalium was detected in 4.8% of C. trachomatis‑positive samples and none of C. trachomatis‑negative samples. Accordingly, a signifcant association was shown between M. genitalium and C. trachomatis (P < 0.01), but also between M. genitalium and Mycoplasma hominis infection (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Based on the results, routine screening is recommended only for women with one or more identifed risk factors. Moreover, younger age does not represent an appropriate inclusion/exclusion criterion for M. genitalium testing in the low‑risk female population. Keywords: Cervical swabs, Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, screening, sexually transmitted infections <br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/1807http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/1807/2096