Prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum in the urethra of men without urethritis in relation to clinical diagnosis.

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.