Scientists in the United Kingdom have
confirmed the existence of a new sexually transmitted disease called
mycoplasma genitalium.
The confirmation of the bacterial
disease, which causes painful urination among other things, as an STD
comes more than two decades after it was first discovered.
A team of fourteen researchers arrived
at the conclusion after conducting a national survey of the sexual
lifestyles and attitudes of British men and women.
The researchers said the study, which
involved the testing urine from 4,507 sexually experienced participants
aged 16 to 44 years for MG, “strengthens evidence that MG is an STI”.
They added, “MG was identified in over
one per cent of the population, including in men with high-risk
behaviours in older age groups that are often not included in STI
prevention measures.”
The study found that men of black
ethnicity were more likely to test positive for MG and showed that the
prevalence of the disease was 1.2 per cent in men and 1.3 per cent in
women.
It also found that for both men and
women, the disease was strongly associated with reporting risk
behaviours such as increasing the number of total and new partners and
unsafe se x in the past year.
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Although it recorded no positive MG
tests in men aged 16 to19, prevalence peaked at 2.1 per cent in men aged
25–34 years, while prevalence in was highest in 16 to 19-year-olds at
2.4 per cent and decrease with age.
It added, “Men with MG were more likely
to report previously diagnosed gonorrhoea, syphilis or non-specific
urethritis, and women previous trichomoniasis.”
Health.com in an article on about the
study quoted a clinical associate professor, Raquel Dardik, as saying
the symptoms for women included irritation, painful urination and
bleeding after se x, while those for men included painful urination and
watery discharge from the pe nis.
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