In past studies Mycoplasma hominis has persisted after treatment with placebo, penicillins, or rifampin in 88-97% of women and 49-77% of men with infections of the lower genital tract. Among women with nonspecific vaginitis, M. hominis persisted in only a third of those treated with metronidazole as compared with at least 70% of those treated with ampicillin (P = 0.01), even though M. hominis is resistant in vitro to metronidazole and to its acid and hydroxy metabolites. Persistence of M. hominis after treatment with metronidazole was significantly associated with persistence of Bacteroides species in the vagina (P = .03). These results suggest that colonization of the vagina with M. hominis is partly dependent on other components of the vaginal microbial flora. In prior studies, M. hominis has persisted in zero to 50% of women and in zero to 30% of men after treatment with tetracycline or lincomycin, but the role of tetracycline resistance in treatment failure was not defined. The susceptibility of M. hominis to tetracycline is bimodal; and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of tetracycline for strains isolated before or soon after treatment was greater than or equal to 16 micrograms/ml for seven (78%) of nine that did persist and for two (17%) of 12 that did not persist after tetracycline therapy for cervicitis in women (P = .002). The MIC of tetracycline was greater than or equal to 16 micrograms/ml for two (12%) of 17 isolates from women in Seattle in 1972-1973, as compared with 27 (34%) of 79 isolates from Seattle men and women in 1979-1982.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Etiologic role of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in women with the acute urethral syndrome.

In an assessment of the possible etiologic role of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in the acute urethral syndrome (AUS) in women, 79 women with AUS, 35 women with acute bacterial cystitis, and 66 asymptomatic volunteers were studied. Evidence against an etiologic role for M. hominis in AUS included: (1) a similar prevalence of the organism among women with AUS (18%), women with cystitis (29%), and asymptomatic women (15%); (2) a lack of association of M. hominis with AUS cases for which no other infectious cause was found; (3) a lack of association of pyuria with cases of infection in which M. hominis was isolated; and (4) an absence of M. hominis from cultures of bladder urine obtained by suprapubic aspiration. A possible etiologic role for U. urealyticum in some cases of AUS was suggested by the association of counts of this organism of greater than or equal to 10(3)/ml with pyuria in women whose AUS had no other apparent etiology and by the isolation of the organism from suprapubic aspirates from four of 15 women with AUS of unknown etiology. Further studies, similar to those done in men with nongonococcal urethritis, are necessary for confirmation of the causative role of U. urealyticum in AUS.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Detecting colorectal cancer.

Although colorectal cancer affects up to 28,000 people in the UK each year, and early detection is associated with a high cure rate, little exists in the way of health promotional literature dealing with the subject. This paper looks at what is needed to make initiatives in this area more useful.

Colorectal Neoplasms↗