Summary
177 women with an average age of 30 years were investigated for ureaplasma, mycoplasma and for antibodies against the chlamydia group antigen. Specimen of endocervical mucus and catheter specimens of urine were cultured and the ELISA (“enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay”) technique applied. In addition the purity class (I to III) of gram-stained vaginal smears was determined.
Ureaplasma were isolated from 45.8 and 26.0%, mycoplasma from 9.0 and 7.9% of cervical and urine specimens respectively. The patients were divided into 5 clinical groups. Patients in the first three groups (I–III, inflammatory disorders, bleeding anomalies, benign and malignant neoplasms of the genital tract) showed a significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher colony count of ureaplasma in their urine than patients in the other two groups (IV and V, who had attended the hospital for reproductive problems or for routine examination). There was a clear correlation between the isolation rates of ureaplasma and mycoplasma and the purity classes of the vaginal smears. The rate of isolation increased progressively with class II and III smears. Antibodies against the chlamydia group antigen were detected in about 40% of all sera tested. A very high titer of antibodies reflecting a recent chlamydial infection was found in 11% of the sera tested.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cassell GH, Cole BC (1981) Mycoplasmas as agents of human disease. N Engl J Med 304: 80–89
Cassell GH, Younger JB, Brown MB, Blackwell RE, Davis JK, Marriott P, Stagno S (1983) Microbiologic study of infertile women at the time of diagnostic laparoscopy. N Engl J Med 308: 502–505
Hare MJ, Thin RN (1983) Chlamydial infection of the lower genital tract of women. Br Med J 39: 138–144
Schachter J (1978) Chlamydial infections. N Engl J Med 298: 428–435, 490–495, 540–549
Shepard MC, Lunceford CD (1976) Differential agar medium (A7) for identification of ureaplasma urealyticum (human T mycoplasmas) in primary cultures of clinical material. J Clin Microbiol 3: 613–625
Sorbie J, O'Shaughnessy MV (1982) Chlamydia trachomatis infections in women with urogenital symptoms. Can Med Assoc J 127: 974–976
Stanek G, Hirschl A, Wewalka F, Steppert A (1983) Ureaplasma urealyticum and mycoplasma hominis in young Austrian males with and without urethritis. Proc. 13th Int. Congr. Chemother. SE 7.4/3/78:10–13
Taylor-Robinson D (1980) The genital mycoplasmas. N Engl J Med 302: 1003–1010, 1063–1067
Taylor-Robinson D, Tully JG, Furr PM, Cole RM, Rose DL, Hanna NF (1981) Urogenital mycoplasma infections of man: a review with observations on a recently discovered mycoplasma. Isr J Med Sci 17:524–530
Voller A, Bidwell DE, Bartlett A (1979) The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay: a guide with abstracts of microplate applications. The Zoological Society of London
Weidner W, Schiefer HG, Krauss H, Engstfeld J (1982) Untersuchungen zur Aetiologie der nichtgonorrhoeischen Urethritis. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 107:1227–1231
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stanek, G., Hirschl, A., Riss, P. et al. The prevalence of ureaplasma, mycoplasma and antibodies against chlamydia group antigen in gynecological outpatients. Arch. Gynecol. 236, 203–209 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02133937
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02133937