[Bacteriology of the ejaculate--a useful study?].

In a retrospective study we analyzed the results of 318 bacteriologic tests of ejaculates from 175 patients with suspected infections of the prostate, epididymis and urethra. Only 55% of all bacteriologic tests were positive, and the bacteria most frequently found were those normally present in the anterior male urethra, enterococci and coagulase-negative staphylococci. These results indicate that bacteriologic testing of the ejaculate does not yield such reliable results as the segmented urine culture technique and the examination of expressed prostatic secretions.