High prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium in female commercial sex workers in Japan

Our objectives were to explore the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis, Nei sseria gonorrhoeae, and Mycoplasma genitalium in Japanese female commercial sex workers (CSWs), in comparison with pregnant women as controls. A high- risk group of 174 female CSWs and 90 asymptomatic pregnant women were enrol led in this study. Detection of C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, and M. geni talium on the endocervix of the women was performed mainly by using polymer ase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. The prevalence rates of C. trachomat is, N. gonorrhoeae, and M. genitalium were 19.0%, 32.8%, and 12.6%, respect ively, in the CSWs, compared with 5.6%, 0%, and 1.1% respectively, in the p regnant women. These results suggest a high prevalence of C. trachomatis, N . gonorrhoeae, and ill. genitalium in Japanese CSWs. We conclude that conti nued close monitoring of the prevalence of C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, and M. genitalium infection in CSWs is important for preventing the dissemi nation of these microorganisms, and that further investigation of M. genita lium as a sexually transmitted pathogen in women is needed.