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Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in patients with sterile pyuria.

Daxboeck F, Zitta S, Stadler M, Iro E, Krause R

Division of Hospital Hygiene, Clinical Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, University of Vienna, University Hospital Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. florian.daxboeck@akh-wien.ac.at

OBJECTIVES: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are associated with various diseases of the urogenital tract, but they are usually not detected by routine microbiological diagnosis. The aim of this study was to asses the prevalence of these organisms in patients with sterile pyuria. METHODS: From December 2000 to June 2001 all urine samples sent in to microbiological diagnosis, which yielded > or =500 leucocytes/ml and <10(4) bacteria/ml, were collected for this study. Thirty-three samples from 30 patients (female: 21, male: nine; median age: 60 years, range: 23-91 years) met these criteria and were subjected to PCR for detection of M. hominis and U. urealyticum, respectively. RESULTS: M. hominis and U. urealyticum were detected in 2 (7%) and 6 samples (20%), respectively. With regard to the underlying diseases of the patients, glomerulonephritis was significantly associated with the detection of urogenital mycoplasmas (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of M. hominis and U. urealyticum found in this study corresponds to the expected prevalence in the general population. This finding does not indicate an association of sterile pyuria with urogenital mycoplasma infection/colonization.

Published 27 June 2005 in J Infect, 51(1): 54-8.
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