Copyright C) 1994, American Society for Microbiology Comparison of PCR with Culture for Detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum in Clinical Samples from Patients with Urogenital Infections

PCR was compared with culture for the detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum in 50 specimens, including sperm, urine, and prostate secretions, from hospital patients with urogenital infections. Five positive and a further four doubtful diagnoses were made by culture, whereas PCR detected U. urealyticum in 12 samples. PCR also was faster than culturing. The increased sensitivity and shorter time requirement of PCR support its further development for the diagnosis of U. urealyticum infection. Of the mycoplasmas associated with human disease, the Ureaplasma species are distinguished by their ability to hydro-lyze urea to carbon dioxide and ammonia by the action of the enzyme urease (8). There is increasing evidence that Urea-plasma urealyticum in particular is associated with a range of human disorders including respiratory infection (1), intrauter-ine infection (5, 7), and nongonococcal urethritis (9). At present, the main method of detecting U. urealyticum is by culture, but the organism is difficult to isolate and requires special culture media (3). PCR is revolutionizing the diagnosis of many infectious diseases, particularly those caused by organisms that are difficult to cultivate (2, 4). However, there are only a few reports of the detection of U. urealyticum by PCR. The purpose of this study was to compare culture and PCR as methods for the diagnosis of U. urealyticum infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS Specimens. Specimens were taken from a total of 50 pa-tients, ranging in age from 19 to 45 years, in the Departments of Venereal Diseases, Urology, and Gynecology of the Firs