Frequency of Mycoplasma genitalium among Patients with Bacterial Vaginosis by PCR in comparison with Culturing Method

Abstract

Introduction: Mycoplasma genitalium is a vaginosis pathogen bacterium to which conventional clinical microbiology techniques cannot be applied due to difficulties in cultivation and slow growth incubation. The aim of this study was to detect the frequency of this bacteriaamong vaginosis infected women and compare it with healthy individuals using PCR and culture methods. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, we conducted a study among 150 patients with bacterial vaginosis and compared the frequency with 45 healthy women with no vaginal infections collected from Imam Zaman Hospital, Robat karim city in May up to September, 1392 (2013). To detect the cases infected with Mycoplasma genitalium, we used culture technique and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) as well. Then, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated. The data was analyzed using the computer software SPSS for windows (version 19), using Cross Tab and Chi square. PResults: The results indicated that among the infected cases, 107%) 71.8) samples were positive using PCR but only 73(49.3) of samples were growing in culture. The sensitivity for culture method was reported to be 49% only while, using PCR method came to 71%. In healthy individuals, 100% of samples were negative in culture which shows specify of 100% of this technique. The specificity of PCR method was 89%. Discussion and conclusion: The findings showed that PCR is a more reliable technique to detect Mycoplasma genitalium compared to culturing method. It is also suggested that presence of this organism is strongly associated with bacterial vaginosis in female.

Keywords

• Mycoplasma genitalium
• Bacterial Vaginosis
• Culture
• PCR