Mycoplasma genitalium

Valeria Fabre, M.D.

MICROBIOLOGY

Aerobic, fastidious organism, member of the Mollicutes.
- Difficult to cultivate.
- Grows very slowly (≥2 days to detect any colonies and longer to identify species). Colonies have a "fried egg" appearance on agar (denser in the center and less dense in the periphery).
Differ from bacteria due to smaller size, presence of sterols in the membrane and lack of a cell wall. The latter makes them intrinsically resistant to penicillin and other agents that target the cell wall.
Colonizes male and female genitourinary tract.

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