Occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in fertile and infertile women

Objective: To determine the frequency of occurrence of Mycoplasma genitalium in the reproductive organs of infertile women in comparison with a control group of healthy, fertile women. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Gynecology Clinic at the 2nd Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Wroclaw Medical University, Poland. Patient(s): The study included 51 patients with primary infertility (24 women with idiopathic infertility) and 23 women with proven fertility. Intervention(s): Cervical smear and smear from the peritoneal cavity, performed during laparoscopy. Main Outcome Measure(s): Presence of the genetic material of M. genitalium in the collected material analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Result(s): M. genitalium was found in the cervical canal of 19.6% of all infertile patients and in 4.4% of fertile patients. In addition, the pathogen was discovered in the cervical canal of 29% patients with unexplained (idiopathic) infertility, which in comparison with the fertile group was a statistically significant difference. In the abdominal cavity, M. genitalium was found in 5.8% of patients from the infertile group (in 8.4% patients with idiopathic infertility), whereas it was not detected in the material obtained from the studied fertile patients. Conclusion(s): The results obtained may suggest that M. genitalium is a species having an impact on impaired fertility in women. (Fertil Steril (R) 2009;91:2376-80. (C) 2009 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)