Prevalence and correlates of Mycoplasma genitalium infection among patients attending a sexually transmitted infection clinic in Guangdong, China: a cross-sectional study

Risk Prediction of Ureaplasma urealyticum Affecting Sperm Quality Based on Mathematical Model and Cross-Sectional Study

Objective. To explore the risk of Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) affecting sperm quality. Methods. Prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. In total, 340 semen samples were collected. According to whether they were infected with UU, the samples were divided into the UU-positive group (observation group) and UU-negative group (control group). The patients with UU-positive were followed up to obtain treatment and collected the semen again after treatment. The semen characteristics and sperm parameters were detected and compared, and the relationship of UU and the sperm quality was analyzed by mathematical models. Results. There were 104 UU-positive semen samples in all, with an overall infection rate of 30.6%, which was highest in 31 to 40-year-old men, and over 40-year-old men were the lowest. The pH, PR, VCL, VSL, and STR in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all $P<0.001$ ), while SV, NP, and WOB were significantly higher (all $P<0.001$ ). After treatment, the pH, VSL, LIN, WOB, and STR in the observation group were significantly higher than before (all $P<0.001$ ), while SV and VCL were significantly lower (all $P<0.001$ ). UU infection was closely correlated with pH, PR, NP, VCL, VSL, WOB, and STR. During the treatment, pH, PR, VSL, WOB, and STR increased, but NP and VCL decreased. 7 major factors that would affect SQ were extracted, of which VAP, LIN, and UU were the first three main factors. The risk of SQ declining after UU infection increased nearly twice with the change of PR and VCL and increased 0.08 times with STR. Conclusion. UU may approximately double the risk of altering the sperm’s curvilinear movement rate and straightness to affect the sperm quality.

The emergence of antibiotic resistant Mycoplasma genitalium as the cause of non-gonococcal urethritis in male sexually transmitted infection clinic patients

Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is the cause of an emerging sexually-acquired infection with high propensity for antimicrobial resistance development. In a prevalence study conducted at the public sexually transmitted infection (STI) service in Hong Kong, the first void urine (FVU) samples of 38 (8%) out of 493 male non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) patients were tested positive by RT-PCR. Patients with MG were younger in age (31 vs 33, OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.93-0.996; P=0.03), more likely to present with urethral discharge (12% vs 6%, OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.10-4.23; P=0.02) and had longer symptom duration of over 2 weeks (14% vs 6%, OR=2.34, 95% CI 1.10-4.97; P=0.03). The prevalence of MG was lower in patients co-infected with Chlamydia trachomatis than as isolated infection (4% vs 10%, OR=0.38, 95% CI 0.17-0.84; P=0.02). Men who have sex with men (MSM) did not give a higher prevalence of MG. Antimicrobial resistance-conferring mutation was present in 24 (63%) patients with MG - 23S rRNA 18 (47%) and parC 19 (53%). Similar to neigbouring Asia Pacific countries, concurrent resistance mutation against both macrolide and fluoroquinolone was demonstrated in 14 (37%). Histories of azithromycin and moxifloxacin use were significantly associated with MG diagnosis. Characteristically, NGU in Hong Kong featured the co-existence of mono-resistance against macrolide or fluoroquinolone, and the presence of dual class resistance. The geographic variability of antimicrobial resistance against MG is attributed to not just the different transmission networks formed in separate population groups but the antimicrobial prescriptions in the treatment of urethritis in the community.