title: Urethritis-associated Pathogens in Urine from Men with Non-gonococcal Urethritis: A Case-control Study.
abstract: The aetiology of non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) remains unexplained in 30-40% of patients. Urine samples from men attending Swedish sexually transmitted disease clinics were examined by species-specific quantitative PCRs for Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Trichomonas vaginalis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, U. parvum, adenovirus, herpes simplex virus, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. A total of 187 men with acute NGU (symptoms ≤ 30 days) and 24 with chronic NGU (symptoms < 30 days) were cases, and 73 men without NGU were controls. Number of lifetime sexual partners was negatively associated with U. urealyticum bacterial load. C. trachomatis and M. genitalium were associated with NGU, as was U. urealyticum, with bacterial loads ≥ 1.3 × 103 genome equivalents/ml urine. Virus and H. influenzae might explain a few NGU cases, but the aetiology in at least 24% of patients with acute NGU was unexplained. In multivariate analysis, detection of U. urealyticum was significantly more common in acute NGU (20%) compared with controls (11%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frølund
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lidbrink
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wikström
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahrens
authors.forename: Jørgen Skov
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D058491:Bacterial Load; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D013548:Sweden; D014526:Urethritis / Q000382:microbiology*