Publication

Abstract : Ureaplasma urealyticum genital infection may lead to severe clinical implications if left undiagnosed and untreated. The present study was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and to determine the prevalence of U. urealyticum in Indian adults with symptoms of genital discharge. Cervical swabs, vaginal swabs and male urethral swabs from 100 patients attending an sexually transmitted disease clinic at a tertiary care hospital in Delhi were screened prospectively for infection with U. urealyticum. The prevalence of U. urealyticum was found to be 32% by culture and 45% by PCR. U. urealyticum was recovered from 8 (47%) and 37 (45%) symptomatic men and women, respectively. The agreement between PCR and culture was 93.75%. PCR improved the test sensitivity by 13% compared to culture. The results confirm the need to use a sensitive and reliable molecular method to prevent the underdiagnosis of ureaplasma infection and to facilitate better clinical management of this infection in India.