Effect on vaginal cells – inflammatory, can cause urethritis, may be commensal.
Possible ammonia odour – urease positive.
Genital Mycoplasmas include:
- Ureaplasma spp.
- Mycoplasma hominis – can cause vulvovaginal infections and infections post-birth, can be cultured, but sensitivity is poor
- Mycoplasma genitalium – cause of urethritis and endocervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), cannot be cultured at all outside research labs
- Ureaplasma urealyticum
- Ureaplasma parvum
Both types cause inflammation. U. parvum, and possibly U. urealyticum, are associated with preterm birth1,2. U. urealyticum is linked with male infertility3,4 and bacterial vaginosis (BV), with that effect increasing with the joint efforts of U. parvum5.
Ureaplasma species can form biofilms (in vitro at least), with biofilms strengthening antibiotic resistance6.
References
- 1.Sobouti B, Fallah S, Mobayen M, Noorbakhsh S, Ghavami Y. Colonization of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in pregnant women and their transmission to offspring. Iran J Microbiol. 2014;6(4):219-224. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25802703
- 2.Tristram D. Maternal Genital Tract Infection. In: Mucosal Immunology. Elsevier; 2015:2215-2229. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-415847-4.00113-0
- 3.Simón Rodríguez C, Charry Gónima P, García Cardoso JV, González Enguita C. Infectious and Inflammatory Male Infertility. In: Encyclopedia of Reproduction. Elsevier; 2018:291-296. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801238-3.64546-4
- 4.Zhou YH, Ma HX, Shi XX, Liu Y. Ureaplasma spp. in male infertility and its relationship with semen quality and seminal plasma components. Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection. Published online December 2018:778-783. doi:10.1016/j.jmii.2016.09.004
- 5.Frølund M, Falk L, Ahrens P, Jensen JS. Detection of ureaplasmas and bacterial vaginosis associated bacteria and their association with non-gonococcal urethritis in men. Fredricks DN, ed. PLoS ONE. Published online April 4, 2019:e0214425. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0214425
- 6.Pandelidis K, McCarthy A, Chesko KL, Viscardi RM. Role of Biofilm Formation in Ureaplasma Antibiotic Susceptibility and Development of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Neonates. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. Published online April 2013:394-398. doi:10.1097/inf.0b013e3182791ae0
