Sequence analysis reveals asymptomatic infection with and possibly leads to infertility in females: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Genetic evidence of asymptomatic () and () infection associated with infertility among females is lacking because suitable high throughput molecular methods have not been applied.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the occurrence of and in the genital tract of females with asymptomatic infection and infertility as well as determine their genetic relatedness.

Materials And Methods: The study group included 100 asymptomatic females and 31 females diagnosed with infertility. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene following DNA extraction was performed directly from endo-cervical swabs. Phylogenetic analysis established the genetic linkage between the isolates from both groups.

Results: In asymptomatic females, and were detected with a prevalence of 8% and 2% respectively. Among females with infertility, the prevalence was 6.45% and 3.23% for and respectively. In both groups, occurred significantly more frequently. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three distinct clusters in both groups: two with already characterized and species (28.6% of the overall spp.) and one distinct cluster matched with . Furthermore, all from asymptomatic females clustered significantly with infertility contrary to . The cluster was significantly linked to two strains from China.

Conclusion: The sequence analysis of and in the genital tract of asymptomatic and infertile females showed significant association; therefore, it is paramount to consider them as possible etiologic agents of infertility and genital infection, especially when the etiology of infertility is unknown.