Unconventional bacteria in urinary tract disease: Gardnerella vaginalis.

Bladder aspirate urine samples (N = 190) were cultured for the presence of fastidious microorganisms. These samples were obtained from patients with urinary tract disease in whom standard bacteriologic investigation had failed to indicate infection. Gardnerella vaginalis was recovered alone, or in association with Ureaplasma urealyticum from the bladder urine of 33% of patients with reflux scarring. G. vaginalis was localized to the upper urinary tract in 75% of these patients with bladder counts greater than 10(3) colony-forming units per milliliter. The results show that two fastidious microbial species, not conventionally associated with urinary tract infection, are recoverable from the upper urinary tracts of patients with so-called sterile pyelonephritis.