Have the same pathogenicity of Ureaplasma Parvum and Ureaplasma Urealyticum in non-specific cervicitis? -based on digital droplet PCR assay

Background: Ureaplasma spp. are association with a various of infectious diseases in female, but it still limited evidence for the pathogenicity in nonspecific cervicitis. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) assay for quantified the load of Ureaplasma spp in cervical swabs. Methods: : A total of 293 non-specific cervicitis (NSC) patients and 211 asymptomatic female fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Cervical swabs were identified by qPCR and further absolutely quantified by ddPCR. Results: : The prevalence of U.parvum were 51.9% (152/293) and 46.9% (99/211); while U.urealyticum were 8.2% (24/293) and 8.1% (17/211) in the NSC and Control group, respectively. In addition, the average Ct value and median copy number per microliter of U.parvum were 31.33 (n=152) and 599 (n=48) in the NSC group and 33.68 (n=99) and 17.4 (n=33) in control group, respectively, suggest that the load of U.parvum of NSC group were significantly higher than the asymptomatic individual (P0.05). Conclusions: : our study suggests that often carrying U.parvum at a high load but not U.urealyticum may have an important implications on the development and progression of cervicitis among female.