Occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in fertile and infertile women.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in the reproductive organs of infertile women in comparison with a control group of healthy, fertile women. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Gynecology Clinic at the 2nd Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Wroclaw Medical University, Poland. PATIENT(S): The study included 51 patients with primary infertility (24 women with idiopathic infertility) and 23 women with proven fertility. INTERVENTION(S): Cervical smear and smear from the peritoneal cavity, performed during laparoscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Presence of the genetic material of M. genitalium in the collected material analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULT(S): M. genitalium was found in the cervical canal of 19.6% of all infertile patients and in 4.4% of fertile patients. In addition, the pathogen was discovered in the cervical canal of 29% patients with unexplained (idiopathic) infertility, which in comparison with the fertile group was a statistically significant difference. In the abdominal cavity, M. genitalium was found in 5.8% of patients from the infertile group (in 8.4% patients with idiopathic infertility), whereas it was not detected in the material obtained from the studied fertile patients. CONCLUSION(S): The results obtained may suggest that M. genitalium is a species having an impact on impaired fertility in women.

[Frequency of detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in cervical canal and the Douglas pouch of infertile and fertile women]. / Czestosc wykrywania Ureaplasma urealyticum i Mycoplasma hominis w kanale szyjki macicy i jamie otrzewnej u plodnych i nieplodnych kobiet.

The group of organisms commonly referred to as genital mycoplasmas comprise species most often found in genitourinary tract of sexually active adults as common commensal inhabitants, or pathogens which can possibly cause many different pathologies like: non-gonococcal urethritis, bacterial vaginosis, cervicitis, endometritis or pelvic inflammatory disease. The problem of their morbidity and the possible influence they have on human fertility is still not clear. The aim of this study was to find out whether two investigated species- Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis can be detect more often in a group of infertile women. 74 women participated in the study and were assigned to one of 2 groups of patients: infertile women and fertile women without any sign of genital tract infection. Swabs from the cervical canal of the uterus and the fluid from the Douglas pouch were taken during the gynecological examination and laparoscopic procedure. Two diagnostic methods were used: biochemical method- commercial diagnostic kit- Mycoplasma IST 2 and PCR method. The results showed that Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis were detected among both fertile and infertile women with nearly the same frequency, much more often in cervical canal than in the Douglas pouch. Ureaplasma urealyticum was more common pathogen than Mycoplasma hominis in both groups and locations. The achieved results point out that the role of genital mycoplasmas in human infertility is still unclear and require further investigations.