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STI with Mycoplasma genitalium—more common than Chlamydia trachomatis in patients attending youth clinics in Sweden

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Abstract

The prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in Sweden is well known, whereas the prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium is less well documented. Youth clinics offer free contraception advice, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and/or contact tracing for the age group 15–25 years. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of STIs, the presence of symptoms and the role of contact tracing. From July 2013 to March 2014, 1001 persons, 509 women and 492 men, were included in this study of six youth clinics in the Region of Västra Götaland. Symptoms were registered and whether the patient was tested because of contract tracing. Collection of urine samples, testing, treatment and disease registration were performed according to clinical routines. Urine samples were analysed for C. trachomatis/N. gonorrhoeae on the Cobas 4800 system (Roche). M. genitalium was analysed by lab-developed PCR. Genital infection was present in 16.8%. The prevalence of M. genitalium was higher than for C. trachomatis (9.6% and 7.1%). Men with symptoms have a significantly higher relative risk for infection with M. genitalium or C. trachomatis compared to asymptomatic men, while there is no increase for women. Contact tracing is important since positive outcome has a high relative risk for both infections. The prevalence of M. genitalium was higher than C. trachomatis in this study population. Initial testing for both C. trachomatis and M. genitalium should at least be considered for young men presenting with symptoms of genital infection. In finding positive cases, contact tracing is of great importance.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Berith Fröberg who collected samples and questionnaire data and compiled the study file. Thanks also to the participating youth clinics Alingsås, Falköping, Lerum, Mariestad, Skara and Skövde, all situated in Västra Götaland, Sweden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Region of Västra Götaland, Skaraborg Hospital, 541 85, Skövde, Sweden

    Peter Nolskog

  2. Department of Infectious Diseases, Skaraborg Hospital, Skövde, Sweden

    Erik Backhaus

  3. Research and Development Centre, Skaraborg Hospital, Skövde, Sweden

    Salmir Nasic

  4. Clinical molecular microbiology, Laboratory Medicine, Unilabs, Skövde, Sweden

    Helena Enroth

  5. Systems Biology Research Group, School of Biosciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

    Helena Enroth

Authors
  1. Peter Nolskog
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  2. Erik Backhaus
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  3. Salmir Nasic
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  4. Helena Enroth
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Contributions

PN initiated the study, applied to the ethics committee and participated in data analysis and writing of the manuscript. EB participated in data analysis and writing of the manuscript. HE participated in planning of the study, reviewed the questionnaire and the ethics application, was responsible for analysis of the study samples, participated in data analysis, writing of the manuscript and applied for funding for the laboratory analyses from Unilabs R&D fund in collaboration with PN. SN performed the statistical analyses of the data and in editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Nolskog.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Regional ethics committee of Gothenburg, Sweden 2013 (399-13).

Patient consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all study subjects at the youth clinic at the time of inclusion in the study.

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Nolskog, P., Backhaus, E., Nasic, S. et al. STI with Mycoplasma genitalium—more common than Chlamydia trachomatis in patients attending youth clinics in Sweden. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 38, 81–86 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3395-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3395-3

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