title: High incidence of asymptomatic urogenital infection in patients with uveitis anterior.
abstract: Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) may be associated with systemic infectious or inflammatory disease. We examined 92 patients with the first attack of acute anterior uveitis; all patients were free of any extraocular symptoms. A thorough clinical examination did not reveal any systemic underlying disease. In the course of microbiological examination, however, a high incidence of asymptomatic infection of the urethra and/or cervix with ureaplasma urealyticum, chlamydia trachomatis and mycoplasma hominis was found. Infections with ureaplasma were significantly more frequent in patients with AAU when compared with a sex- and age-matched control group. There was no statistically valid association of these infections with the HLA-B27 phenotype in the patients. The higher rate of urogenital infections in patients with AAU may reflect a higher rate of sexual promiscuity. Transmission of infectious agents seems to be one possible factor in the pathogenesis of AAU.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Graninger
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arocker-Mettinger
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kiener
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benke
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szöts-Sötz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knobler
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smolen
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000382:microbiology; D002690:Chlamydia Infections; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D052776:Female Urogenital Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D052801:Male Urogenital Diseases; D008875:Middle Aged; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections; D016869:Ureaplasma Infections; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology; D014606:Uveitis, Anterior / Q000209:etiology*