Work

Patterns of Gardnerella vaginalis Co-Detection with Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum in Adult Urogenital Molecular Testing in the Republic of Korea, 2018–2022

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Multiplex PCR assays report Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) and Ureaplasma parvum (UP) separately, but the results are often combined as “Ureaplasma positive.” We compared Gardnerella vaginalis (GV) co-detection in UU-only and UP-only adult specimen accession records and examined variation by sex and age. This retrospective study included 176,855 urogenital records from a Korean reference laboratory (2018–2022). The primary comparison (N = 46,319) used modified Poisson regression adjusted for sex, age group, specimen type, and collection year. GV co-detection ranged from 15.7% in UU−/UP− records to 86.0% in UU+/UP+ records. For UU−/UP+ versus UU+/UP− records, the adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) was 1.06 (95% CI, 1.04–1.08). Sex-specific aPRs were 0.93 (0.91–0.95) in women and 1.13 (1.10–1.15) in men (p for interaction < 0.001); the sex-specific directions were reproduced in a urine-only analysis.. Age-related differences were nonmonotonic and exploratory. The overall association was small, and the use of different multiplex panels for UU and UP/GV means that cross-panel analytical differences could have contributed to, or potentially accounted for, the observed difference. These findings should therefore be interpreted as descriptive laboratory co-detection patterns rather than evidence of a biological interaction or clinically meaningful species-specific difference..

Source: Bacteria

DOI: 10.3390/bacteria5030052

Authors: So Yeon Park, Jeong Su Han, Jae Kyung Kim

Institution: Dankook University

Language: English

Topic: Reproductive tract infections research

Subfield: Microbiology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,207