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ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF UREAPLASMA UREALYTICUM AND MYCOPLASMA HOMINIS IN THE ROMANIAN POPULATION

ANA CUTOIU 1,2*, DANIEL BODA 2,3

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The present study aimed to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance to antibiotics available in Romania against Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis genital isolates at this time. We collected urethral swabs and vaginal samples from patients who presented at “Ponderas” Academic Hospital (Bucharest, Romania) in the Dermato-venereology Department from January 2021 until December 2021. Fifty-two samples were obtained from two groups of patients: symptomatic subjects complaining of several urogenital symptoms (i.e. burning sensation or pain during urination, vaginal/cervical discharge etc.) and completely asymptomatic subjects who came for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) microbiological screening. We used a Mycoplasma kit to assess the presence of U. urealyticum and M. hominis and their susceptibility to antibiotics. 82% of men (n = 28) were diagnosed with U. urealyticum genital infection. 50% of females (n = 9) were positive for both U. urealyticum and M. hominis (p = 0.01914). All isolates (100%, n = 52) were susceptible to doxycycline and tetracycline. Most mollicutes showed significant resistance to quinolones. Mollicutes showed a better susceptibility to macrolides when only one isolate was present (76%, 73% and 84% for erythromycin, azithromycin and clarithromycin, respectively) compared to mixed isolates (7%) (p < 0.001). Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index was calculated, and the result was 0.33 for U. urealyticum isolates, 0.64 for genital coinfection with mixed isolates, and 0.42 for M. hominis isolate (p = 0.0003614). In conclusion, our study analysed the antibiotic susceptibility of U. urealyticum and M. hominis in urethral and vaginal samples in the Romanian population, for a better understanding of the rational use of antibiotics, which may be helpful to avoid both treatment failure and the abuse of antimicrobial agents.