ABSTRACT
Since the Šrst description of the organisms now known as ureaplasmas more than 50 years ago, there has been considerable progress in understanding their biological characteristics, and many clinical and basic investigations have documented their contributions as pathogens in eukaryotic hosts. Even though cultures are generally reliable when properly performed, procedures for growing the organisms from clinical specimens are somewhat complex, expensive, and still not widely available outside of large hospitals, reference laboratories, or research facilities. Culture alone cannot distinguish the two Ureaplasma species that infect humans from one another; nor can it identify and distinguish among individual serovars. Such discriminations can be valuable in studies of epidemiology and mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Analysis of data obtained from the determination of the complete genome sequences of all 14 serotypes of human Ureaplasma spp. and development of molecular-based assays have further enhanced capabilities for detection of ureaplasmas in clinical specimens and performance of research studies aimed at understanding their roles as pathogens in many different conditions.
