Study On The Gender Prevalence And Sensitivity Of Urogenital Mycoplasmas To Antibiotics In Yaounde, Cameroon

Urogenital mycoplasmas are bacteria that cause genito-urinary tract infections that may be initially asymptomatic but can progress and lead to severe complications and threaten reproductive health (vaginosis, salpingitis urethritis). The inadequate antibiotic treatment of mycoplasma infections has led to the emergence and spread of resistant strains. Moreover, non-adherence to treatment, self-medication and untargeted therapy are contributing factors to resistance. In spite of these notions, there is limited documentation of resistance to urogenital mycoplasmas in Cameroon. We therefore aimed to determine the prevalence of urogenital mycoplasma infections and their susceptibility to antibiotics both in males and females. To initiate this work, Questionnaires were administered to 126 persons suspected with urogenital mycoplasma at the GTAB (Group of Biomedical Analysis Technicians) laboratory Yaounde. Urethral and endocervical specimens were collected from each person. The detection and sensitivities of urogenital mycoplasmas to macrolides, doxycydine and fluoroquinolones were performed with the Mycofast Evolution 3 kit (EliTech Microbio). Overall, 74 (58.73%) of patients were positive for urogenital mycoplasma. Amongst these, 4/74 (5.40%) were infected with Mycoplasma hominis, 14/74 (18.9%) had Ureaplasma urealyticum and 56 / 74(75.70%) were co-infected with both Mycoplasma hominis and U. urealyticum. Females had more genital mycoplasma infection 66/74(89.2%) compared to males 8/74(10.8%). This difference was however not significant (p = 0.64). Singles had a statistically higher prevalence of 71.62% than in the other groups (married, divorced, widowed) (p<0.0001). U. urealyticum had a sensitivity of 100% to pristinamycin and Josamycin. Mycoplasma hominis was 100% sensitive to Doxycycline, Pristinamycin and Josamycin. The resistance rate U. urealyticum was 85.7% with Ciprofloxacin. All Mycoplasma hominis were 100% resistant to Azithromycin and Roxythromycin. Cases of co-infection (Mycoplasma hominis+ U. urealyticum) depicted a decline in the sensitivity to 53.6%, 78.6% and 75.0% respectively to Doxycycline, Pristinamycin and Josamycin. Only Pristinamycin and Josamycin remained effective for the treatment of urogenital mycoplasma infections. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative.