Extragenital Mycoplasma hominis infections in adults

Abstract

Purpose: To heighten awareness of the role of Mycoplasma hominis as an extragenital pathogen in adults.

Patients and methods and results: Patients ranged in age from 14 to 76 years. Thirteen patients were immunosuppressed, including nine organ transplant recipients; three were receiving steroids, and two had an underlying malignancy. The remainder were immunocompetent. Thirteen patients had prior surgery at or near the site of infection. M. hominis was isolated from normally sterile sites such as blood or cerebrospinal, pleural, abdominal and joint fluids, and bone. Non-sterile sites of isolation included surgical wounds and pulmonary secretions. The organism was detected in anaerobic cultures of clinical specimens sent to the laboratory for routine bacteriologic culture. Gram stains of fluids or wound drainage revealed neutrophils but no bacteria. Anti-mycoplasmal therapy was effective in eradicating the organism in 13 of 15 patients who were treated. Of those in whom treatment failed, one patient had an antibiotic-resistant isolate and the other had M. hominis isolated from the lung at postmortem after just 2 days of therapy.

Conclusion: Our experience suggests that significant infections due to M. hominis, although uncommon, are not rare, and methods to isolate and identify this organism should be available for general adult medical and surgical populations.