Infectious Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Infections in Clinical Contexts
Summary
Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma species are unique, cell-wall-deficient bacteria that colonise mucosal surfaces of the respiratory and urogenital tracts. Although often asymptomatic, these organisms can breach epithelial barriers and cause a spectrum of clinical syndromes ranging from non-specific urethritis and vaginosis to life-threatening respiratory distress in neonates, central nervous system complications in adults and hyperammonemia in immunocompromised patients. Their minimal genomes confer limited biosynthetic capacity and a requirement for complex growth media, posing diagnostic challenges that have historically delayed targeted therapy. In obstetric settings, intra-amniotic invasion by Ureaplasma is implicated in preterm labour and chorioamnionitis, while Mycoplasma hominis has emerged as a rare agent of postsurgical wound infection and prosthetic joint sepsis. Treatment is further complicated by intrinsic resistance to beta-lactams and rising resistance to macrolides, tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones, necessitating culture-based susceptibility testing or molecular assays to guide therapy. Recent advances in rapid molecular diagnostics and expanded antimicrobial susceptibility panels have improved detection, but global surveillance data highlight an unsettling trend of multidrug resistance. Effective management requires a combination of heightened clinical suspicion, targeted laboratory methods and judicious antibiotic use to prevent obstetric complications, reduce neonatal morbidity and limit dissemination of resistant strains.
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Infectious Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Infections in Clinical Contexts publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in infectious mycoplasma and ureaplasma infections in clinical contexts across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Mollicutes: class of bacteria lacking a cell wall, including Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma.
Fastidious organism: microorganism requiring specialised culture conditions for growth.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing: laboratory methods to determine pathogen sensitivity to antibiotics.
Hyperammonemia: pathological elevation of blood ammonia, often fatal if unrecognised, linked to Ureaplasma infection in immunocompromised hosts.
Co-infection: simultaneous infection of a host by two or more pathogenic organisms.
References
- Case Report: Double trouble: a rare case of successfully treated Mycoplasma hominis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa co-infection. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (2023).
- Ureaplasma urealyticum Causes Hyperammonemia in an Experimental Immunocompromised Murine Model. PLOS ONE (2016).
- Infection due to Mycoplasma hominis after left hip replacement: case report and literature review. BMC Infectious Diseases (2019).
- Meningitis in a Chinese adult patient caused by Mycoplasma hominis: a rare infection and literature review. BMC Infectious Diseases (2016).
- MYCO WELL D-ONE detection of Ureaplasma spp. and Mycoplasma hominis in sexual health patients in Wales. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (2020).
- Spread of multidrug resistance among Ureaplasma serovars, Tunisia. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control (2020).
About these summaries
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