title: Prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum in the urethra of men without urethritis in relation to clinical diagnosis.
abstract: Ureaplasma urealyticum is one of the microorganisms possibly causing nongonococcal urethritis. In a prospective study, 606 men without urethritis presented to an STD clinic in a rural West German region were investigated for the prevalence of U. urealyticum in the urethra. The overall isolation rate of the organism was 21.3%. Analyzing patients grouped by clinical diagnoses, the isolation rate of U. urealyticum was significantly higher in the genital warts group (25%) and in the partner's control group (35%) than in the group of patients suffering from fertility disorder (15.2%) or balanitis (14%). These findings stress the importance and the difficulty to select the appropriate controls in clinical studies concerning the role of U. urealyticum in the male urethra.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermato-Venereology, Bavarian Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg, FRG.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hackel
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Elsner
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001446:Balanitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003218:Condylomata Acuminata / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000635:transmission; D014509:Ureaplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology*; D014526:Urethritis / Q000382:microbiology*