Association of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma species infection and organism load with cervicitis in north Indian population

Cervicitis is predominantly caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis, which accounts for almost half of all the cases of cervicitis. The role of newer organisms like Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma sp. and association of bacterial load with cervicitis are also not well established. So the study aimed to determine the relative frequency of these organisms and their load in association with cervicitis cases from north India. A case-control study involving 300 women was conducted using quantitative real-time PCR from endocervical swabs for identification of organisms and quantification of bacterial load. Among 150 cervicitis cases, C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, M. genitalium and Ureaplasma parvum were detected in 5 (3 center dot 3%), 10 (6 center dot 6%), 37(24 center dot 6%) and 47 (31 center dot 3%) respectively. Old age (<0 center dot 001, chi-squared test) and irregular menstrual cycles (<0 center dot 001, chi-squared test) were significantly associated with cervicitis. M genitalium was the only organism to be associated significantly with cervicitis with regard to age (<0 center dot 031) and symptoms like discharge (P < 0 center dot 033, chi-squared test) and dysuria (P < 0 center dot 044, chi-squared test) in multivariate analysis. Our finding suggests that the bacterial load of these organisms is not significantly associated with cervicitis. However, we found significant association of M. genitalium infection with clinical characteristics of cervicitis cases.