There is a sexually transmitted disease that you have never heard before

A lot of people are at risk of having one - though less known, but very dangerous.

Everyone knows about sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, Syphilis, or Herpes. But there is a lesser known disease, which also causes undesirable harms to the human body, named Mycoplasma Genitalium (or another name is Ureaplasma).

The history and nature of Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria under a microscope.

Mycoplasmosis is a common name for 70 "mycoplasma" species, all non-nuclear microorganisms that affect the reproductive, respiratory, skeletal, and human vision. However, only a few of these microorganisms are really dangerous. In this article, we only learn about a small branch of this microorganism, Mycoplasma Genitalium (MG for short).

Many sources believe that the disease is a new thing, but it was actually discovered in 1980. At this time, scientists did not have a really effective tool to learn about MG, so the relationship between them and sex until 1990 was discovered.

Symptom

Some of the most common symptoms in men are the burning sensation in the urethra when urinating . The symptoms in women are painful when urinating, having sex, or feeling pelvic pain.

Currently a lot of research is being done to learn more about MG on women. Notably, a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology noted that about 94% of men and 56% of women with MG have no symptoms at all.

Why is MG a dangerous disease?

No matter what age or gender, just having sex is at risk of MG.(Source: livescience.com).

The first reason why MG is frightening is because it can spread to both men and women, and from mother to child if the mother is infected. All women and young men who have sex are at risk of developing this disease, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or gay. Overall, its ability to spread is frightening to what HIV or syphilis is.

Although it is possible to infect so many different subjects, often the signs of MG may be unclear, or completely asymptomatic. This will result in the patient being able to ignore it, or completely ignoring the disease.

The problem lies in that MG can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, urethritis, infertility. Pregnant women are prone to proliferation or premature birth, the placenta develops abnormally, along with many other dangerous complications.

And most importantly, the reason why MG becomes so popular in the recent scientific world is because the signs of the Mycoplasma bacterium begin to show signs of resistance. Be aware that not all antibiotics can kill the Mycoplasma pathogen, and now they have evolved to resist. Azithromycin is often considered to be quite effective in the treatment of MG, recently no longer effective.

Even the cure for this disease is confusing for most doctors. According to Professor Catriona Bradshaw from Melbourne Sexual Health Center: "If I ask 3 different doctors how to treat MG, I will have 6 different answers" . This will be particularly difficult to explain to patients, because the information about treating the disease is completely inconsistent, even to doctors themselves who do not know the most effective way to cure it. what.

Treatment and prevention

MG also has a high chance of reinfection because the body is unable to produce immune antibodies to infections. So to prevent the risk of re-infection, many experts apply both the use and replacement of high-dose antibiotics, combined with dialysis. It can be said that the treatment process is both arduous and causing much suffering for patients.

Young couples want to have children and pregnant women should pay special attention to regular checkups. Early detection and treatment will avoid unfortunate consequences for both the infected person and the children themselves.

As well as the diseases transmitted by sexually transmitted diseases we know, MG is spread from person to person with unsafe sex. But luckily, it is an effective way to prevent MG . In addition, we may consider sterilizing genitalia in the first two hours.

Using condoms not only helps us prevent rare diseases known as MG, but also Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV.Prevention is better than cure.

"I have never heard of this disease" - a patient's experience

In order for you to visualize the experience of the disease, we can come to the case of patient Chris Willams, who is completely unaware of his illness, until his ex-partner says I am carrying MG germ in my body.

Chris Williams, an Australian patient, was surprised to discover that he had MG resistance.

"I was very worried. I had absolutely no symptoms and my friends didn't know anything about the disease," the 38-year-old said.

Because he is gay, he is already very careful to check regularly to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV.

"I had to put in a special test for MG, because this type of test is not common , " he said.

After being tested, he found out that he was infected with an MG resistant form.

"It means doctors will give me an antibiotic for a week to weaken the bacteria, then add a stronger dose," he said.

Chlamydia is one of Australia's most sexually transmitted diseases.Most people usually only test common diseases that are completely unaware of other health problems, until it's too late.

When he tested the next time, he was fortunate to be cured, and felt extremely relieved.

"Even though I know a lot about sexual health, the unknown factors are really scary. Do I have a disease? Should I tell my partner?"

This may show how the lack of knowledge about MG in the common ground of the community, even in developed countries like Australia.

In Vietnam, information about this disease is still very limited. The current center has an official testing method for online publication of the Central Lieu Lieu Hospital in Hanoi.