BLT Stages

Abstract bachelorproef 2015-2016: Comparison of three methods for the detection of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in genital samples

The aim of this research is to isolate and identify Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in genital samples. Until now, this analysis is performed in another laboratory, which is less efficient and is time consuming. Because of this, three tests will be compared for the identification of genital mycoplasmas. The best test will be chosen to be used in the laboratory of AZL.

Genitourinary infections are common in our society. A lot of diseases are known, such as these with Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Similar infections are those with genital mycoplasmas. These microorganisms don’t show symptoms often and are difficult to track down, but they have far-reaching consequences like non-gonococcal urethritis, pyelonephritis and chorioamnitis. Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are also involved in neonatal infections.

There are many techniques available for the detection of M. hominis and U. urealyticum, but the use of a classical culture is less sensitive whereby biochemical tests have been developed. The tests used for screening on Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are the A7® Mycoplasma Agar combined with the Urea-Arginine LYO 2® broth (BioMérieux©), the Mycoplasma DUO® (BioRad©) and the Mycoscreen PLUS® (ELITech©). The first test consists of an agar plate and a broth medium for culturing. The two other tests are biochemical assays.

Twenty-five paired samples were collected, with one sample from each pair being tested by the three methods at AZL and the other sample being tested by a reference lab to secure the result. The A7® Mycoplasma Agar results in the least number of similarities compared with the reference lab. Often the culture is contaminated with yeasts so an interpretation is not possible. The Mycoplasma DUO® and the Mycoscreen PLUS® compared well with the reference lab.

As said before, the culture of bacteria is less sensitive than the biochemical tests. The use of the A7® Mycoplasma Agar can be excluded as identification test. In the comparison of the Mycoplasma DUO® and the Mycoscreen PLUS®, the Mycoplasma DUO® has additional advantages. Besides the extra advantages the Mycoplasma DUO® has a more reliable result.