Conventional bacteriology in prostatitis patients: microbiological bias, problems and epidemiology on 1686 microbial isolates.

Prostatitis is one of the most common illnesses in men aged < or = 50 with different clinical presentation such as pelvic pain, Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms or sexual disfunction. Problems in the diagnosis and classification of this condition, however, have delayed epidemiologic research and consequently, our understanding of the natural history of prostatitis is limited. Nowadays, the Meares & Stamey test (M&S Test) in bacterial prostatitis is considered the most important test for diagnosis of bacterial prostatitis, even if several problems have been identified in running the M&S Test. The aim of the present study is to perform a review of the microbiological diagnosis approach to prostatitis patients and illustrate a new protocol, a modification of the standard Meares and Stamey test for the microbiological diagnosis of prostatitis, which includes total ejaculate (TE) from each patient.