Detection of viral and bacterial infections in women with normal and abnormal colposcopy

Signs and symptoms of sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) do not allow any etiological diagnosis in women. Colposcopic findings are seldom pathognomic . Consequently, the microbiology laboratory with the recent availability of molecular diagnostic tools is required to detect the infectious bacterial and/or viral agents involved in STD. in cervical samples of women submitted to gynaecological screening for past or present signs and symptoms of infl ammation and with different colposcopic findings, we searched by molecular approaches Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, herpes simplex vir us type 1 and 2, adenovirus and 45 genotypes of papillomaviruses and, by cu ltural methods Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum. Colposcopy pe rmitted us to divide the studied population into three groups: 48 women had negative colposcopic findings, 50 presented signs of flogosis and 100 resu lted positive fur an abnormal transformation zone (ANTZ) and/or for HPV col poscopic findings. Results obtained by microbiological assays indicated tha t the prevalence of infectious agents did not always correlate with colposc opy. Double and triple infections were found in groups 2 and 3, with mycopl asmas being the most common microrganisms present in association and quire almost copresent with papillomaviruses.