[Epididymitis. Studies on its etiology and pathogenesis with special reference to Chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum].

A standardized clinical and microbiological diagnostic examination was conducted on 137 patients with acute or chronic epididymitis (cardinal symptom: painful swelling of the epididymis). Patients with spontaneous secretion from the urethra were examined according to the methods of urethritis diagnosis, patients without it with the four-glass test. Gram-negative bacteria and enterococci were responsible for 27.7% of the infections. Additional tests for Chlamydia trachomatis and mycoplasmas increased the microbiological rate of diagnosis to 65.7%. Demonstration of Ureaplasma urealyticum in significant numbers was always associated with urethritis or prostatitis. Chlamydia trachomatis was demonstrated especially in younger, sexually active men with epididymitis but without accompanying urethritis or prostatitis. The most striking clinical finding was a disturbance in bladder emptying in about one third of all patients with epididymitis, regardless of age.