title: Anaerobic and aerobic urethral flora in healthy females.
abstract: We characterized the aerobic and anaerobic urethral flora of five healthy females by performing urethral and midstream urine cultures once weekly for 8 weeks. Aerobic cultures were performed monthly for an additional 3 months. Lactobacillus spp. were isolated from 52 of 57 samples, Staphylococcus epidermidis from 42 of 57, Corynebacterium spp. from 26 of 57, and alpha-hemolytic streptococci from 14 of 57. Two subjects had E. coli serogroup O6 and group B streptococci isolated on five occasions, respectively. Anaerobes were isolated from 32 of 35 urethral urines (91%). Bacteroides melaninogenicus accounted for 46% of these isolates. The anaerobic urethral flora varied slightly from week to week, and a similar anaerobic flora was isolated from the introitus, fourchette, and cutaneous perineum. In addition, anaerobes were isolated from 16 of 18 healthy females who had a urethral urine sample cultured once only, and B. melaninogenicus was the most frequent isolate. Of the 21 B. melaninogenicus isolates identified to subspecies, 14 were subsp. intermedius.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000332:Aerobiosis; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013045:Species Specificity; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology*; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology