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. 2011 Feb 1:11:35.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-11-35.

'The difference in determinants of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium in a sample of young Australian women'

Jennifer Walker  1 , Christopher K Fairley, Catriona S Bradshaw, Sepehr N Tabrizi, Marcus Y Chen, Jimmy Twin, Nicole Taylor, Basil Donovan, John K Kaldor, Kathleen McNamee, Eve Urban, Sandra Walker, Marian Currie, Hudson Birden, Francis Bowden, Jane Gunn, Marie Pirotta, Lyle Gurrin, Veerakathy Harindra, Suzanne Garland, Jane S Hocking
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'The difference in determinants of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium in a sample of young Australian women'

Jennifer Walker et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Differences in the determinants of Chlamydia trachomatis ('chlamydia') and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) genital infection in women are not well understood.

Methods: A cohort study of 16 to 25 year old Australian women recruited from primary health care clinics, aimed to determine chlamydia and MG prevalence and incidence. Vaginal swabs collected at recruitment were used to measure chlamydia and MG prevalence, organism-load and chlamydia-serovar a cross-sectional analysis undertaken on the baseline results is presented here.

Results: Of 1116 participants, chlamydia prevalence was 4.9% (95% CI: 2.9, 7.0) (n = 55) and MG prevalence was 2.4% (95% CI: 1.5, 3.3) (n = 27). Differences in the determinants were found - chlamydia not MG, was associated with younger age [AOR:0.9 (95% CI: 0.8, 1.0)] and recent antibiotic use [AOR:0.4 (95% CI: 0.2, 1.0)], and MG not chlamydia was associated with symptoms [AOR:2.1 (95% CI: 1.1, 4.0)]. Having two or more partners in last 12 months was more strongly associated with chlamydia [AOR:6.4 (95% CI: 3.6, 11.3)] than MG [AOR:2.2 (95% CI: 1.0, 4.6)] but unprotected sex with three or more partners was less strongly associated with chlamydia [AOR:3.1 (95%CI: 1.0, 9.5)] than MG [AOR:16.6 (95%CI: 2.0, 138.0)]. Median organism load for MG was 100 times lower (5.7 × 104/swab) than chlamydia (5.6 × 106/swab) (p < 0.01) and not associated with age or symptoms for chlamydia or MG.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate significant chlamydia and MG prevalence in Australian women, and suggest that the differences in strengths of association between numbers of sexual partners and unprotected sex and chlamydia and MG might be due to differences in the transmission dynamics between these infections.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) organism load and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) organism load per swab (log).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) organism load per swab (log) for each chlamydia serovar detected.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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