As I mentioned previously, up to 70% of PID cases are nongonococcal and nonchlamydial. Novel bacterial pathogens have recently been studied among women with PID.

In particular, Mycoplasma genitalium has recently been implicated in PID. M. genitalium is extremely difficult to culture, but the progress of PCR-based assays for M. genitalium has generated more research into the role of Mg in both male and female genital disease.

M. Genitalium is the smallest free living organism, and some very interesting attributes of this bacteria can be seen in this image above, including most notably M. genitalium’s terminal tip, which is used for attachment to epithelial cells and motility.

Why would one suspect that Mg may play a role in PID? First, it was originally discovered as a cause of nongonococcal urethritis in men, thus it is a known pathogen of the male genital tract. Second, M. genitalium has been found to induce salpingitis in monkeys, and it has also been found to adhere to human fallopian tube epithelial cells in organ culture.