Although some news outlets have been reporting that it is a “new” STD, it turns out that the Mycoplasma Genitalium bacteria was originally identified in 1980, although it took until about 1990 for researchers to realize that it if fact was transmitted sexually. And a recent study in the UK has now found that it’s more prevalent than medical researchers realized. M. genitalium infections are affecting about 1% of people between the ages of 16 to 44 in the UK, and studies have found that same rate of infection in the population in the US. That actually makes M. genitalium more common than gonorrhea, based on CDC data.
With all that said, how dangerous is this STD? According to a highly informative article on Live Science, the facts you need to know are these:
Is this a new STD?
[The bacterium is not newly discovered, however] The new study adds to the evidence that M.genitalium is an STD, because it found that the infection was more common in people who had at least four new sexual partners in the past year than in people who had one or fewer new partners in the past year. In addition, people were more likely to have M.genitalium if they had unprotected sex, and no infections were found in people who had never had sex, according to the study, which was published Nov. 3 in the International Journal of Epidemiology
What symptoms does it cause?
In men, the bacteria can cause inflammation of the urethra (called urethritis) that leads to symptoms such as a burning pain while urinating or discharge from the penis.
Whether M.genitalium causes disease in women is less clear, but the bacteria have been linked to inflammation of the cervix (cervicitis), as well as pelvic inflammatory disease, an infection of the female reproductive organs that can lead to pain in the lower abdomen and pain or bleeding during sex, according to the CDC. In severe cases, pelvic inflammatory disease can lead to infertility in women.
“Most of the research that’s going on now is trying to better understand the implications of [M. genitalium] infection in women,” Manhart said. A recent review study by Manhart and colleagues found that the risk of inflammation of the cervix, pelvic inflammatory disease and preterm birth was about twice as high in women with M. genitalium infection, compared to women without the infection. Still, some researchers want to see more evidence before concluding that M. genitalium does cause complications in women, Manhartsaid.
The new study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that about 94 percent of men and 56 percent of women infected with M. genitalium did not have symptoms.
The article explains that there is not currently an approved test for this STD and that more research is needed to establish whether routine screening for it is really necessary. However, if a woman is being treated for urethritis, cervicitis and pelvic inflammatory disease and she is not getting better after taking the standard drugs prescribed for those conditions, then doctors could provide the antibiotics that are effective against M. genitalium and see if the patient gets better.
For further details on this little-known STD, see the excellent and detailed article on the Live Science website.
Source: LiveScience.com – “New STD? What You Should Know About Mycoplasma Genitalium“
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