Scientists in the
United Kingdom have confirmed the existence of a new sexually transmitted
disease called mycoplasma genitalium.
The confirmation of
the bacterial disease, which causes painful urination among other things, as an
STD comes more than two decades after it was first discovered.
A team of fourteen
researchers arrived at the conclusion after conducting a national survey of the
sexual lifestyles and attitudes of British men and women.
The researchers said
the study, which involved the testing urine from 4,507 sexually experienced
participants aged 16 to 44 years for MG, “strengthens evidence that MG is an
STI”.
They added, “MG was
identified in over one per cent of the population, including in men with
high-risk behaviours in older age groups that are often not included in STI
prevention measures.”
The study found that
men of black ethnicity were more likely to test positive for MG and showed that
the prevalence of the disease was 1.2 per cent in men and 1.3 per cent in
women.
It also found that for
both men and women, the disease was strongly associated with reporting risk
behaviours such as increasing the number of total and new partners and unsafe
s*x in the past year.
Although it recorded
no positive MG tests in men aged 16 to19, prevalence peaked at 2.1 per cent in
men aged 25–34 years, while prevalence in was highest in 16 to 19-year-olds at
2.4 per cent and decrease with age.
It added, “Men with MG
were more likely to report previously diagnosed gonorrhoea, syphilis or
non-specific urethritis, and women previous trichomoniasis.”
Health.com in an
article on about the study quoted a clinical associate professor, Raquel Dardik,
as saying the symptoms for women included irritation, painful urination and
bleeding after s*x, while those for men included painful urination and watery
discharge from the joystick.
According to the
article, the disease has been linked to both inflammation in the cervix
(cervicitis) and pelvic inflammatory disease, which is a serious condition
often caused by other STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Dardik was also quoted
as saying that around 10 per cent of women who develop PID (which causes
abdominal pain, fever, painful cervix, and pain or bleeding during s*x), could
blame MG as the underlying cause.
She, however, said
people could get tested for MD and that it was treatable with the antibiotic
azithromycin, adding that the use of condoms was an effective way of preventing
it.
Dr. Jorgen Jensen of
the Mycoplasma Laboratory, Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, however, said
although the single-dose azithromycin treatment was best for MG, it was not
good enough.
He explained in an
article published in an issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases that although
initial in vitro studies suggested that antibiotics of the tetracycline class
were active, clinical experience soon demonstrated their inefficiency in
producing both microbiologic and clinical cure.
He added that two
recently published observational studies of 120 Australian and 183 Norwegian
MG-positive patients found that only 84 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively,
were cured by a single 1-g dose of azithromycin.
Jensen said, “(A study
the study by) Mena et al provides a clear-cut answer to the question of whether
multidose doxycycline or single-dose azithromycin is most efficient for the
treatment of M. genitalium—positive urethritis; undoubtedly, azithromycin is
best. However, it is not good enough, and additional studies of new approaches
are definitely needed.”
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