In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycoplasma hominis genital isolates.

Sir, Mycoplasma hominis may be implicated in several diseases.[1] Data on the prevalence and the antimicrobial resistance of M. hominis from various countries are few and controversial.[1] We investigated the antimicrobial susceptibility of M. hominis from cervical and urethral swabs of outpatients in Northern and Southern Italy. A comparison of these data was done with similar studies worldwide, from 2011, to investigate the prevalence, therapeutic management and spread of antimicrobial resistance of this atypical pathogen. In two Italian hospitals of northern (Imola) and southern (Naples) Italy, a total of 2480 patients (1980 women and 500 men) aged 18–40, with cervicitis/ urethritis, were examined from July 2009 to December 2013. For each patient, two swabs from either the uterine cervix or urethra were collected and processed. The detection and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of M. hominis genital isolates were performed using the Mycoplasma IST2 kit (bioMerieux, Marcy-l’Etoile, France). The techniques used for inoculation, diagnostic criteria and statistical analysis have been described earlier.[1] M. hominis was detected in 99 (4%) biological samples (84/1980 in women and 15/500 in men); significant bacterial load was revealed in 82 (3.3%). Colonization and infection by M. hominis decreased with increasing age (P < 0.001). AST was performed against all bacterial isolates. Tetracyclines exhibited a sensitivity percentage of 92.9%, streptogramins 96.0%, macrolides 28.5%, and fluoroquinolones 24.7% [Table 1].