Survey of Respiratory and Urogenital Infections Due to Mycoplasma in the Hospitalized Patients in Ahwaz Imam Khomeini Hospital

Abstract

Mycoplasma are the smallest free–living organisms which can grow on artificial media. Although some Mycoplasma are normal commensals, others are proven pathogens of respiratory and urogenital tracts.In this survey, 221 collected samples of 121 patients with urogenital infections (54.7%) and 100 patients with respiratory infections (45.3%) were examined. These patients were either referred to or hospitalized in Imam Khomeini hospital in Ahwaz. The samples were among: urine samples, vaginal secretion swabs, bronchial washing samples and throat swabs. All of them were inoculated into suitable media and were incubated at 37ºC for 5 - 8 days. The colonies which morphologically resembled Mycoplasma were confirmed by the tests such as glucose fermentation, hemadsorption test, urea –manganese chloride stain, urea hydrolysis, Dienes stain and Arginine hydrolysis. A total of 107 Mycoplasma isolates were identified, including 3 isolates (2.8%) of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, 50 isolates (46.7%) of Mycoplasma hominis and 54 isolates (50. 5%) of Ureaplasma urealyticum. Frequency of Mycoplasma pneumonia was 3% for examined respiratory samples. The most of urogenital Mycoplasma were isolated from 21-30 & 31-40 and the least of them were isolated from 1-10 & 51-60 age- groups. Although some genital Mycoplasma are known as normal flora, the results of this study showed high frequency of Mycoplasma isolates such as M. hominis and U. urealyticum in infected individuals.This fact Necessitates the early diagnosis and treatment of these oppotunists organisms.