Snapshot
- Mycoplasma genitalium, or Mgen, is a bacterium that can infect reproductive organs in both women and men, causing cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and urethritis.
- Mgen increases risk for HIV, and may cause infertility in both women and men.
Key Challenges
- Mgen was discovered relatively recently and is less known than other STIs, so it often goes overlooked.
- Research into Mgen vaccines remains in the very early stages.
- Mgen can only be treated by certain classes of antibiotics, and it is rapidly evolving resistance to some of them.
Mgen Advocacy Needs
- Are vaccines available to prevent Mgen? No.
- Are tests available to detect Mgen? Via a lab test, Mgen is diagnosable via a urine sample or urine samples or cervical, anal, oral, or vaginal swabs.
- Can Mgen be cured? Yes, but rapidly evolving resistance to antibiotics.
Vaccines
Mgen was first isolated in the early 1980s, and research into vaccines since then has been limited. Computer modeling suggests that it may be possible to design a cost-effective vaccine quickly, but further experimental studies are needed.
Advocacy Needs
- Basic discovery and exploratory work is required to assess next steps in Mgen vaccine development.
Diagnostics
Mgen can be diagnosed with molecular tests in the laboratory using urine samples or cervical, anal, oral, or vaginal swab. Combined diagnostics that test for Mgen, chlamydia, and gonorrhea are also available. If Mgen is detected in the sample, the lab should conduct an additional test to assess antibiotic resistance. This ensures that health care providers can prescribe the most effective treatment.
Treatment
Once diagnosed, Mgen is curable, though some classes of antibiotics are not effective against it. Mgen is also rapidly evolving resistance to azithromycin, so a combination of doxycycline and moxifloxacin is generally recommended unless resistance testing is available.
Advocacy Needs
- Advocates should continue to press for investment in antibiotic R&D, to help ensure that Mgen remains curable.