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Can Mycoplasma genitalium be treated?

Yes, Mycoplasma genitalium can be treated. Sometimes it may require some additional antibiotics to achieve the cure.

What is the treatment for Mycoplasma genitalium?

The treatment will involve a course of oral antibiotics. The choice and duration of antibiotics depends on your symptoms & signs and the outcome of antibiotics you may have already had.

How long does it take for treatment to work?

Most patients will begin to notice improvement after a few days of taking treatment, and should have complete resolution of their symptoms by the time they have finished the course of antibiotics.

How effective is the treatment for Mycoplasma genitalium?

Treatment of Mycoplasma Genitalium infection is complex as the success rate of treatment can vary from 40% and 100%. This is because Mycoplasma Genitalium doesn’t have a cell wall which is what common antibiotics attack to resolve the infection.

If your symptoms do not resolve completely or you have a positive Mycoplasma Genitalium test result 4 weeks after beginning treatment, then we consider the treatment to have failed. In the event this happens, one of our consultants will discuss the next steps with you.

What would cause my treatment for Mycoplasma genitalium to fail?

• if you have got an infection with a resistant type of Mycoplasma Genitalium (most common)
• if you develop antibiotic resistance while taking the antibiotics
• if you are not able to take the antibiotics as prescribed (miss one or more tablets)
• if you vomit or have a loose motion soon after taking the antibiotics (this can reduce the level of antibiotics in your blood and tissues to ineffective levels)
• inadequate dose of antibiotics
• if you have sexual contact with your infected partner before their infection has been properly treated

Does my partner need treatment?

Yes, your current partner(s) will need to get tested and receive treatment. All partners since your last negative Mycoplasma Genitalium test, if you had one before, need to be tested.

Can I begin treatment before receiving my test results?

It is vital that the results of the Mycoplasma Genitalium PCR test is available before starting a course of antibiotics, unless you have symptoms suggestive of PID or epididymo-orchitis.

Having this information reduces the risk of treatment failure and helps to avoid antibiotics with greater side effects where possible.

However, when it is necessary to start antibiotics without waiting for test results, it is important to have appropriate specimens taken before any treatment is commenced. This helps to confirm the diagnosis, detect other infections that may require separate treatment, and serve as a baseline for a repeat Mycoplasma test 4 weeks later as a test of cure.

How long do I have to wait before having sex again?

Ideally you should avoid any sexual contact until your test of cure for Mycoplasma genitalium 4 weeks later is negative. This prevents transmission of infection to the partner if your infection is not yet cleared (treatment failure rate can be as high as 50%).

If 4 weeks is a too long a period to abstain for you, then you must certainly avoid any sexual contact for at least 10 days from the start of your treatment. This is to ensure that your infection is properly treated and you do not get re-infected in this period. If your partner has received treatment after you, then it must be 10 days after their treatment has started.

What happens if I don’t get treated?

Mycoplasma Genitalium can be a chronic infection and remain infectious for many years.

If you do not have symptoms at the time of diagnosis, you may develop symptoms in the following weeks, sometimes years later from diagnosis. Women can develop cervicitis and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) with risk of reduced fertility and men can develop inflammation of testes and their tubes (epididymo-orchitis).

Furthermore, you may risk infecting your partner if you do not receive treatment.

Presence of having an untreated STI, including Mycoplasma Genitalium, increases the risk of acquiring HIV.

If left untreated in pregnancy, there is some evidence to suggest that Mycoplasma can cause preterm birth.

In some cases, the infection may resolve by itself in due course in absence of any treatment.