Molecular diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases reveals a high frequency of Neisseria gonorrhoae infection among male urethritis patients and highlights the usefulness of molecular testing for clinical diagnosis in Burkina Faso.

Sexually transmitted Diseases (STD) represent a public health problem due to their high prevalence worldwide and the emergence of multidrug resistance of responsible microorganisms. Medical laboratory diagnosis of sexually transmitted genital infections by traditional methods as culture remains extremely delicate, difficult or impossible (to find extremely fragile microorganisms that can be cultured). Thus, the use of molecular techniques constitutes an alternative to improve accurate diagnostic, personalized patients’ treatment and public health. A total of 83 clinical samples including urethral discharge and urine samples from individual patients with symptoms of urethritis received were analyzed using traditional methods and a commercial real-time PCR (qPCR) method. Out of 83 urethritis patients, n = 55 (66.26%) were positive to at least one of the STD pathogens detected by qPCR. qPCR assay was more sensitive (50/83, positive cases) compared to culture (15/83, positive cases) and light microscopy (28/83, positive cases). The most prevalent NTD pathogen in the suspected patients was N. gonorrhoeae with 60.24% (50/83) based on real-time PCR diagnosis. Among the positive cases to STD pathogens, Neisseria gonorrhoeae had the highest frequency 49/55 (89.01 %) followed low frequencies of Trichomonas vaginalis 4/55 (7.27%) and Chlamydia trachomatis 1/55 (1.82 %). This highlights high prevalence of N. gonorrhoeae infection in urethritis male patients and a very important misdiagnosis using traditional routine methods in Burkina Faso by medical laboratories. Thus, this situation may impact negatively patients personalized treatment and care and public health with possible rapid emergence of multidrug resistant strains. This study also highlights the urgent need to optimize culture for the diagnosis of NTD pathogens in Burkina Faso and the usefulness and the need for the introduction of molecular diagnostic methods in routine diagnosis for the detection of NTD pathogens in the medical laboratories in Burkina Faso.