Abstract

Ninety-five men suffering from gonococcal urethritis were treated and observed. Forty-nine developed postgonococcal non-specific urethritis (PGU). Seventeen men were demonstrated to be free from PGU after careful observation; these formed a control group. Chlamydia trachomatis was isolated from urethral material from 26 (53%) of the PGU group but from none of the controls. This difference was highly significant (P less than 0-001). It confirms that C. tachomatis is a pathogen in the urethra. The presence of specific IgM antibody to C. trachomatis in serum from some men developing PGU, from whom that organism was isolated, suggests that the infection was recent in those cases. Ureaplasma urealyticum (T strain mycoplasma) was isolated from urethral material taken from 22 (45%) of the 49 men in the PGU group, and from 12 (71%) of the 17 in the control group. Mycoplasma hominis was isolated from 10 (20%) of the 49 men in the PGU group, and from four (24%) of the 17 men in the control group. Thus, no evidence was obtained that mycoplasmas (U. urealyticum, M. hominis) are patogenic in the urethra.