Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in Chinese women with genital infectious diseases

Background: Previous studies have confirmed that the presence of Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) and Mycoplasma hominis (MH) increases the risks of various diseases including genital infections in women. Hence, the surveillance policies for the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of UU and MH are important for both the prevention and the treatment of the diseases associated with genital mycoplasmas. Aim: The objective of this study is to investigate the characteristics of UU and MH prevalence and its antimicrobial susceptibility in Chinese women with genital infection. Methods: By using commercial mycoplasma strips, we investigated the incidence and antimicrobial resistance of UU and MH in 3306 Chinese women with genital infection between January 2005 and December 2009 in Changzhou China. Results: (1) The overall positive incidence of genital mycoplasmas was 62.16%. The most common pattern was UU monoinfection (46.52%), the UU-MH coinfection pattern ranked second (13.91%) and MH monoinfection was lowest (1.71%). According to annual analysis, MH infection revealed an increasing trend between 2005 and 2009. However, a significantly higher infection rate by genital mycoplasmas was found in young women (age range: 16-35 years). (2) Overall, MH susceptibility rates remained high only to doxycycline (DOX), minocycline (MIN) and josamycin (JOS), while UU had high susceptibility rates only to DOX, MIN and clarithromycin (CLA). The resistance rates of UU-MH-mixed isolates to most of drugs were significantly higher than those of UU- or MH-single isolates. Conclusions: High infection rates and severe drug resistances of genital mycoplasmas were found in Chinese women with genital infections. The laboratory screening and antimicrobial susceptibility testing for genital mycoplasmas is vital to treat the infection.