Longitudinal quantitative detection by real-time PCR of Mycoplasma genitalium in first-pass urine of men with recurrent nongonococcal urethritis

Abstract

By using a TaqMan assay we monitored longitudinal changes in Mycoplasma genitalium loads in five men with recurrent M. genitalium-positive nongonococcal urethritis. We observed regrowth of M. genitalium persisting in hosts after treatment and a possible association of the increase in the M. genitalium load with emergence of symptoms and signs of nongonococcal urethritis in four of these patients.

FIG. 1.

Longitudinal changes in M. genitalium loads in five patients with recurrent M. genitalium-positive NGU. The M. genitalium 16S rRNA gene in the first-pass urine samples of the patients was quantified by the TaqMan assay. The M. genitalium load was suppressed to below the detection level of 50 copies/ml in some urine samples during and after the levofloxacin (LVX) treatment, but all samples were positive for the mycoplasma according to the PCR- and phylogeny-based assay. Arrows indicate the M. genitalium load at the time when the patient returned to the clinic with recurrent urethritis symptoms. For four (○, •, □, and ▴) of the five patients, the load at the time of recurrence of NGU was as high as it was at the time of the first visit when definite NGU was observed. For the remaining patient (▵), no increase in the number of M. genitalium organisms was observed at the time of NGU recurrence.