MG Is a Rare STD That Could Soon Become Much More Common
As if there weren’t enough sexually transmitted diseases to worry about, Mycoplasma genitalium is now being scrutinized more closely by government officials. The British Sexual Health Organization has released new guidelines to prevent this virus from becoming the next superbug, and the least we can do is know it exists.
The bacterium – let’s call it MG for short – infects about one percent of people in the UK, and a 2007 study found a similar frequency among young adults in the United States. This may sound rare, but it is higher than the frequency of gonorrhea that you have probably heard of.
MG has gone unnoticed because its symptoms are vague and many people don’t know they have it. It can cause vaginal irritation, pelvic pain, pain when urinating, discharge, or bleeding. None of these symptoms will cause your doctor to say “yes, you have MG,” as they all have other causes, including chlamydia. And some people have no symptoms at all. But, if left untreated, it can cause pelvic inflammatory disease , which can lead to infertility.
Until recently, even a commercially available test did not exist for it. The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV says that all of these factors combine to render this infection invisible, which is often mistreated, increasing the likelihood that it will become resistant to antibiotics. In other words, if providers are no longer aware of this and testing becomes more readily available, it may become even easier to detect and more difficult to treat.
At the moment, all we can do with you is to know that this STD exists. If you have unexplained pain that matches your MG symptoms, discuss the possibility with your doctor and ask if an MG test might be appropriate.