Nobody wants to become infected with a sexually transmitted disease, but the situation becomes terrifying when a disease is symptom-free on a person, yet they can spread the disease to their partner or spouse. 

One such disease is Mycoplasma Genitalium (M.Gen), which is becoming more common than Gonorrhoea with serious consequences for both genders.

DR. Grace Huang from DTAP Clinic Robertson looks into this topic, and why you should be concerned by it.

Photo: brunet.ca

According to DR. Huang, M.Gen is transmitted through sexual intercourse including vaginal, anal and oral intercourse. 

Symptoms

The most dangerous thing about M.Gen is that a proportion of infected individuals do not display symptoms for it, yet they can pass the disease to their sexual partners.

But for men who do display symptoms, these include penile discharge and inflammation of the urinary tract known as urethritis, and manifests as painful urination.

And in women, M.Gen causes inflammation of the cervix, known as cervicitis, resulting in abnormal vaginal discharge, painful intercourse or bleeding post-intercourse. 

If the infection spreads to a woman’s uterus and fallopian tubes, this causes pelvic inflammatory disease, which causes permanent consequences like infertility as well as pelvic pain.

The disease can spread to the rectum and anus too, but data on this shows that it is currently asymptomatic.

Testing and treatment 

M.Gen is a tiny, slow-growing bacterium and due to this nature, it can be difficult to conduct tests for.

Usually testing is done by nucleic acid amplification, which is in the form of a urine sample for men, and high vaginal or endocervical swab for women.

As well, treatment can be difficult too, because the bacteria does not have a cell wall, meaning that common antibiotics are ineffective against it.

Conclusion

Ultimately, DR. Huang adds that safe sexual practices such as using barrier protection, limiting your number of partners and knowing your partner’s infection status are important in keeping sexually transmitted diseases, not just M.Gen, at bay.