Colonization of the lower urogenital tract with Ureaplasma parvum can cause asymptomatic infection of the upper reproductive system in women: a preliminary study

PURPOSE: Genital ureaplasmas are considered opportunistic pathogens of human genitourinary tract involved in adverse pregnancy sequelae and infertility. While association of Ureaplasma urealyticum with urogenital tract infections is well established, the role of Ureaplasma parvum in these infections is still insufficient. In the study, we compared how often cervicovaginal colonization with U. parvum is associated with the presence of these microorganisms in the upper genitourinary tract of fertile and infertile women. METHODS: We used PCR assay to determine the prevalence of U. parvum and U. urealyticum in pairs of specimens, i.e., vaginal swabs and Douglas’ pouch fluid samples from consecutive 40 women with no symptoms of genital tract infection. RESULTS: In total, 19 (47.5 %) of the 40 samples were positive for ureaplasmas. U. parvum was simultaneously detected in pairs of samples in five (55.5 %) of the nine (47.4 %) women positive in PCR assay. As many as 5 (18.5 %) of the 27 infertile women and 1 (7.7 %) of the 13 fertile women showed infection of the upper genital tract with U. parvum. CONCLUSION: The results of the study demonstrated that colonization of the lower genital tract with U. parvum can produce asymptomatic infection of the upper reproductive system in women. These findings also imply that U. parvum may be present in the upper genital tract at the time of conception and might be involved in adverse pregnancy outcomes.