Increased infections by herpes simplex virus type 1 and polymicrobials of the genital tract, in the general population of a Spanish middle city

Abstract

Introduction. Infections by genitopathogens are a frequent reason for consultation in Primary Health Care and in the specialties of Infectious Diseases, Urology, Gynecology, and Dermatology. The most common causes are opportunistic microorganisms and responsible for sexually transmitted infections associated with unprotected sex. The objective is to determine the microorganisms that cause these infections in patients treated at the Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves in Granada and Neisseria gonorrhoeae susceptibility to antibiotics. Material and methods. A transversal-descriptive and retrospective study was carried out, which included the results issued, between January 2018 and December 2019, in the Microbiology Laboratory from all the episodes studied using standardized working procedures. Results. The most frequently detected microorganisms were Gardnerella vaginalis (23.81%) followed by Candida spp. (20.9%), especially in females, and N. gonorrhoeae (11.36%) and Ureaplasma urealyticum (11.99%), in males. Many times, they were presented in combination. Regarding herpes simplex viruses, infection by both species had a similar prevalence (50%) in males, while type 1 was more prevalent (76.52%) in females. The most active antibiotics against N. gonorrhoeae were cefotaxime (98%) and cefixime (100%). Tetracycline (39.02%) a poorly active antibiotic. Conclusions. The most frequent pathogens corresponded to those that usually caused infections in females, although N. gonorrhoeae was the most frequent in males and mixed infections are not an accidental finding. HSV-1 infections were more frequent than HSV-2, confirming the trend of a change in the epidemiology of genital herpes.