Scientists warn Mycoplasma genitalium, a little-understood sexually transmitted disease linked to infertility, could be silently spreading amid a lack of testing and research.
Lisa Manhart, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health, estimated that as many as 20% of sexually active women and 17% of sexually active men aged between 15 and 24 could be infected with Mycoplasma genitalium, per NBC News.
For comparison, chlamydia is the most common STD in the US, and 5% of sexually active women aged between 14 and 24 are infected with it, according to NBC News.
Mycoplasma genitalium doesn't cause symptoms in most people, but some experience symptoms from 2 to 35 days after becoming infected.