Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to simultaneously detect Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum in female patients suffering from genital complications (vaginitis, cervicitis and PID) by PCR. Genital swabs were collected from 210 female patients and subsequently suspended in PBS. Following DNA extraction, PCR assay were performed, using a genus specific primer pair. These primer set, which were originally designed in our laboratory, amplified a 465 bp fragment (M. genitalium), 559 bp fragments (U. urealyticum) and 630 bp fragment (M. hominis). Samples containing bands of the expected size for mycoplasma strains were subjected to digestion with restriction endonuclease enzyme. Of the 210 genital swabs tested, 120 sample (57.1) showed positive reactions in PCR. Sixty eight samples were positive for Ureaplasma sp. (32.3), 28 for Mycoplasma sp. (13.3) and 25 samples had mixed infections (11.9). In case where specific primers were utilized, PCR has proved to be a simple, fast and relatively inexpensive method for simultaneous detection of all three clinically important genital mycoplasmas. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.