Understanding the burden and consequences of Mycoplasma genitalium infection

Summary Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is an emerging pathogen and a suspected cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) that is proving difficult to control due to high levels of antibiotic resistance. This project will use epidemiological methods to generate new evidence on the risk of PID among women with MG infection and establish a surveillance system for monitoring MG resistance patterns.

Project Details

MG is increasingly recognised as an important bacterial sexually transmitted infection. Emerging data suggest association between MG, PID and adverse pregnancy outcomes, but this remains the subject of ongoing debate. MG is inherently difficult to treat, and has a marked propensity to develop resistance. Australia has reported among the highest prevalence of resistance to available first- and second-line therapies. However, until recently there has been a lack of recognition of the magnitude of this problem.

This project will use epidemiological methods to generate new evidence to improve the control of MG infection. This will include, the use of linkage and other large data sources to investigate the association between MG infection and disease in women, and establish novel surveillance methodologies for monitoring MG burden and patterns of resistance.