Recovery of anaerobic curved rods and Gardnerella vaginalis from the urethra of men, including male heterosexual consorts of female carriers.

Three hundred and nine men attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases were studied regarding urethral colonization with anaerobic curved rods (CR), Gardnerella vaginalis, Bacteroides ureolyticus, as well as for chlamydiae and gonococci. Ten (3.2%) of the men harboured CR. All strains of CR were of the short variant (approximately 1 micron long). Fourteen (4.5%) men were culture-positive for G. vaginalis and 58 (18.7%) for B. ureolyticus. Of the four men who were culture-positive for CR, but not for any other of the above-mentioned microbes, four had urethritis. From the 309 men, gonococci were isolated from 20 (6.4%) and chlamydiae from 96 (31.1%). Of the 10 men with CR, two concomitantly harboured Chlamydia trachomatis, four B. ureolyticus, and one G. vaginalis. The corresponding figures for those men with urethritis and who were colonized with G. vaginalis only were one of six, and for those carrying B. ureolyticus 14 of 37. None of 19 male consorts of the same number of women, harbouring the long variant (approximately 4 microns) of CR and G. vaginalis, were culture-positive for these two organisms.