Isolation of Mycoplasma hominis from extragenital cultures

In order to document the characteristics of extragenital Mycoplasma hominis infections, the clinical features of 36 cases in which M. hominis was isolated from extragenital sites of adult patients were reviewed. In most cases, the organism was detected in conventional bacterial cultures (from specimens obtained from surgical and immunosuppressed patients) that had been incubated for at least 72 h. The results indicate that in cases in which M. hominis involvement is suspected, prolonged incubation or specialized microbiological techniques for detecting Mycoplasma spp. should be employed.