Sexual risk behaviour in women carriers of Mycoplasma hominis

To study the sexual behaviour of women harbouring Mycoplasma hominis in the vagina.

Two family planning clinics and a youth clinic for contraceptive advice.

The vaginal flora of 996 women were investigated microbiologically, including culturing for M. hominis from the posterior vaginal fornix. Cultures and tests were also made to diagnose genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections, gonorrhoea, genital herpes, cervical human papillomavirus infection, trichomoniasis, genital warts and human immunodeficiency virus. The sexual behaviour of these women was investigated by structured in-depth personal interviews.

Of the 996 women, 123 (12.3%) harboured M. hominis in the vagina. The remainder (87.7%), who had a negative M. hominis culture, served as a reference group. Those with M. hominis were significantly more likely to have had more than 10 partners during their lifetime, had a greater frequency of more than one sexual partner during the preceding month and the last six months, and reported more frequent experience of "casual sex', including casual "travel sex'. More of them also had experience of group sex and were more likely to have been sexually abused than the women in the reference group. Fewer women with M. hominis had a current steady partner and were less often cohabitors, but more had had sexual intercourse during the previous week than those in the reference group. There was an association between the occurrence of M. hominis and bacterial vaginosis and genital chlamydial infection. Adjustment in multifactorial regression analyses therefore changed the results only marginally.

Women with M. hominis have almost the same sexual risk behaviour as women with classic sexually transmitted diseases.