Mycoscreen® Plus

Intended use

Mycoplasmas are the smallest and simplest of the procaryotypes capable of self-reproduction (0.15 to 0.25 μm). They differ from other bacteria in their lack of a cell wall and hence a natural resistance to ß-lactams. Since mycoplasmas are relatively fragile, they will only grow in acellular cultures in the presence of various growth factors and at a constant temperature of 35 to 37 °C.

Most human mycoplasmas are commensal. Of the 9 species that have been isolated from the urogenital tract, Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis are the most commonly found. U.u. and M.h. are sexually transmitted and can be pathogenic. Respiratory infections or meningitis can occur in the neonate as a result of contamination from the genital tract at birth. In adults, the infections caused by U.u. and M.h. are described in the table below:

Conventional diagnosis is based upon culture on A7 agar plates followed by microscopical identification of U.u. (sea urchin shaped) or M.h. (fried-egg shaped) colonies.
Since both U.u. and M.h. are commensal, infection can only be diagnosed through the determination of the pathological threshold, followed by precise enumeration.

MYCOSCREEN® PLUS, associated with A7 Agar plates make urogenital diagnosis much easier.

Principle

MYCOSCREEN® PLUS is a 24-hour method based upon the ability of U.u. and M.h. to metabolize, respectively, urea and arginine. Mycoplasma growth in a liquid medium is visualized by the color change of an indicator from yellow to fuchsia pink. This is due to the alkalinization of the medium as the result of ammonia release.

MYCOSCREEN® PLUS is carried out in a divisible microplate enabling the testing of 4 samples. Each microplate is composed of 4 rows of 2 wells: a Ureaplasma urealyticum (U.u) well containing lincomycin and a Mycoplasma hominis (M.h) well containing erythromycin.

Simple protocol

Easy-to-read and easy-to-interpret results

The results are read by the color obtained in the different wells. Urogenital mycoplasma growth is indicated when the medium turns red (alkaline). The medium remains yellow when no growth of urogenital mycoplasma occurs.

Reagents and material

• MYCOSCREEN® PLUS:
  • Divisible microplate 8 of 4 rows of 2 wells (U.u) / (M.h)
  • Quantity: 8
• UMMt:
  • Vial of mycoplasma transport medium (2 ml)
  • Quantity: 32
• UMMlyo:
  • Vial of lyophilized growth medium (+2 mL UMMt)
  • Quantity: 32
• S.M.h:
  • Mycoplama hominis growth activator (4.5 mL)
  • Quantity: 1

Stability and storage

• All the reagents are ready-to-use. The vials may be stored at 2-8 °C, in their original packaging until the expiry date shown on the kit.
• The UMMt medium may be stored temporarily at room temperature but is more stable at 2-8 °C.

Performance

• A study carried out on 334 clinical specimens (224 endocervical specimens, 25 urethral specimens, 75 sperm specimens, 5 urine specimens and 5 miscellaneous specimens), of which 99 specimens were positive, gave the following results compared with the MYCOFAST® EvolutioN 2 method, for rates of 104 CCU/mL.

• With the MYCOSCREEN® PLUS tray 75.2% of the U. urealyticum strains and 48.2% of the M. hominis strains were detected after 24 hours of incubation. For a detection threshold of 104 CCU/mL the results were similar to those obtained with the MYCOFAST® EvolutioN 2 tray.
• Differentiation of U.u and M.h.
  • The global concordance for the differentiation within 24 hours between U. urealyticum and M. hominis, compared to the MYCOFAST® EvolutioN 2 method is 96.5%.

Material required but not provided

• Sample collecting material (Swabs, cytobrushes, sterile containers for liquid samples)
• Pipettes and tips
• Waste container for contaminated waste
• Paraffin oil
• Incubator at 37 ± 1 °C