[Ureaplasma urealyticum in the male urethra. The assessment of the semiquantitative demonstration as exemplified in men with and without urethritis].

By means of wire-loops, smears were taken from the urethra of 117 male patients suffering from urethritis and of 236 healthy men. Ureaplasma urealyticum (U.u.) was isolated semiquantitatively on A7-medium agar. Large quantities of U.u. were found in 20.5% of the infected patients, but also in 7.6% of the healthy men; plenty of U.u. was isolated in 9.4% of the infected and in 7.2% of the healthy persons. U.u. could not be tracted out in 61% of the males suffering from urethritis and in 75.4% of those not infected. According to our findings, semiquantitative isolation of U.u. does not infer the etiopathogenetical role of U.u. in every single case. In addition, a broad spectrum of microbials, e.g. chlamydia trachomatis has to be excluded in order to be able to recognize U.u. as the cause for urethritis after successful antimicrobial therapy.