Ureaplasma – Are you sitting comfortably?
Section snippets
Background
Ureaplasma was initially discovered in 1954 as a pathogen causing non-gonococcal urethritis in men. This bacterium is commonly isolated in humans as part of the normal flora.1 Two species have been found to cause human infection – Ureaplasma parvum and Ureaplasma urealyticum. U. parvum has four serovars (1, 3, 6, and 14) and U. urealyticum has 10 serovars (2, 4, 5, and 7–13).2 While U. parvum is more commonly implicated in clinical disease3 U. urealyticum is more frequently seen in urogenital
Microbiological diagnosis
Ureaplasma spp. do not have a cell wall and therefore cannot be seen on Gram stain. The absence of a cell wall makes them susceptible to drying and other environmental conditions.5 Ureaplasma do not grow on routine culture media but can grow in two to five days on mycoplasma-specific transport media,6 in particular A8 agar and 10B arginine broth.7 Ureaplasma isolates were previously named ‘T-mycoplasmas’ because of the ‘tiny’ 15–60 μm brown granular colonies they form.5 Detection of Ureaplasma
Epidemiology and transmission
Ureaplasma is detected in the vaginal flora of 40–80% of sexually active women. Risk factors for colonisation include multiple sexual partners, low socioeconomic status and oral contraception.1 Horizontal transmission is by sexual contact and genital infection is usually asymptomatic. Nosocomial transmission has not been described.7 Although U. urealyticum has been isolated from public toilets and has been found to survive for up to 2 h on the toilet rim, transmission by this route has not been
Clinical presentation
The role of Ureaplasma spp. in human disease is contentious as it is frequently isolated in healthy individuals as part of the normal flora.8
Treatment
Ureaplasma is resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins and cephalosporins, because it lacks a cell wall.41 However, there are four classes of anti-microbials which are effective: macrolides, tetracyclines, chloramphenicol (all of which inhibit protein synthesis) and fluoroquinolones (which inhibit DNA gyrase).42 None of these are ideal for use in neonates.
Of the macrolides, clarithromycin is the most active against Ureaplasma.41 Roxithromycin, erythromycin and azithromycin
Conflict of interest
None
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Cited by (25)
Microbial ureases
2024, UreasesSTUDY on the gender prevalence and sensitivity of urogenital mycoplasmas to antibiotics in YAOUNDE, CAMEROON
2020, Scientific AfricanCitation Excerpt :There are no known data today concerning the general Cameroonian population. Moreover, Mycoplasmas are normally susceptible to antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis; for example, tetracycline, macrolides, aminoglycosides, and chloramphenicol, and to fluoroquinolones that inhibit topoisomerases [13,14,15] but are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins and cephalosporins, because they lack a cell wall [16,17] and for the same reason they cannot be seen on Gram stain. Nevertheless, antibiotic resistance in U. urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis is an issue of increasing concern [15].
Urinary Tract Infections, Renal Abscess, and Other Complex Renal Infections
2017, Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious DiseasesResults of Real-time Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay in Renal Transplant Recipients With Sterile Pyuria
2017, Transplantation ProceedingsCitation Excerpt :The result of this study indicated that rtMPCR testing of sterile pyuria could detect a considerable number of causative micro-organisms and should show to the clinicians the advantage of detection of the fastidious micro-organisms in urine from the renal transplantation patients when standard cultures fail to identify microbial infection, because identification of those micro-organisms should constitute an essential part of diagnosis and management in these patients. Ureaplasma was discovered in 1954 as a causative pathogen of nongonococcal urethritis in men [14]. This bacterium is commonly isolated in humans as a part of the normal flora [15].