Occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in fertile and infertile women

ObjectiveTo determine the frequency of occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in the reproductive organs of infertile women in comparison with a control group of healthy, fertile women.DesignProspective study.SettingGynecology Clinic at the 2nd Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Wroclaw Medical University, Poland.Patient(s)The study included 51 patients with primary infertility (24 women with idiopathic infertility) and 23 women with proven fertility.Intervention(s)Cervical smear and smear from the peritoneal cavity, performed during laparoscopy.Main Outcome Measure(s)Presence of the genetic material of M. genitalium in the collected material analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Result(s)M. genitalium was found in the cervical canal of 19.6% of all infertile patients and in 4.4% of fertile patients. In addition, the pathogen was discovered in the cervical canal of 29% patients with unexplained (idiopathic) infertility, which in comparison with the fertile group was a statistically significant difference. In the abdominal cavity, M. genitalium was found in 5.8% of patients from the infertile group (in 8.4% patients with idiopathic infertility), whereas it was not detected in the material obtained from the studied fertile patients.Conclusion(s)The results obtained may suggest that M. genitalium is a species having an impact on impaired fertility in women.