Urogenital ureaplasma infections in women of childbearing age are associated with complications in pregnancy, premature birth, infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and urethritis, but they are also frequently found in the healthy population. The genus Ureaplasma includes two species, Ureaplasma urealyticum and Ureaplasma parvum, which cannot be distinguished by classical microbiological methods of cultivation. The introduction of molecular diagnostics has shortened the time and increased the sensitivity of detection of these two microorganisms and further allowed for their specific genotyping. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PC R) method is based on the exploitation of genetic polymorphism of UreB gene, which is one of the genes encoding the urease enzyme. Urease plays the major role in the metabolism of ureaplasmas and enables them to utilise urea as a major source of energy. Urease is also responsible for the pathogenic potential of bacteria. Due to the increasing resistance of ureaplasmas to tetracyclines and quinolones, antibiotic sensitivity testing of U. parvum and U. urealyticum should be performed. Mycoplasmas do not have the cell wall, so the choice of antibiotic treatment has been reduced to macrolides, tetracyclines and quinolones. 

Key words:
drug resistance, bacterial; female urogenital diseases; Ureaplasma; Ureaplasma urealyticum; molecular diagnostic techniques