Mycoplasma Infection May 9, 2005

Mycoplasma Infection May 9, 2005

In the past, mycoplasma only caused respiratory infections, known as atypical pneumonia. In recent years, it has increasingly caused urinary tract infections, similar to gonorrhea in the past. To distinguish this type of urinary tract infection, it is now called non-gonococcal urethritis. Besides mycoplasma, Chlamydia is also a causative agent of non-gonococcal urethritis. Chlamydia was originally the pathogen of trachoma, causing trachoma; however, recent findings show that although this pathogen can cause urethritis, it is less common than mycoplasma. The main mycoplasma responsible for non-gonococcal urethritis is Ureaplasma urealyticum, followed by human mycoplasma, with about 10% being mixed infections. Ureaplasma urealyticum (U-U) accounts for 80% of non-gonococcal cases, human mycoplasma (MH) accounts for 10%, and mixed infections account for another 10%. The most distinctive feature of this disease is its drug resistance, often referred to as multidrug resistance. The multidrug resistance rate for non-gonococcal urethritis is 87.03%. This finding comes from a study conducted by Professors Wang Xin and Li Feng at the First Affiliated Hospital of Tsinghua University, examining the drug resistance of 142 mycoplasma-infected patients—88 males and 54 females. Samples were collected using standard methods and immediately inoculated after being sent to the laboratory. Ten antibiotics were tested, with resistance increasing from low to high: minocycline 9.1%, doxycycline 10.5%, josamycin 19.0%, azithromycin 42.3%, sparsomycin 45.8%, roxithromycin 47.1%, ofloxacin 64.0%, spiramycin 72.6%, ciprofloxacin 77.4%, and gentamicin 90.1%. Among these ten antibiotics, the first four belong to the tetracycline family, while the rest are macrolides, quinolones, and aminoglycosides, respectively. This indicates that the tetracycline family is most effective against mycoplasma infections.