Culture sites in the diagnosis of gonorrhea in women.

To test for the presence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection, culture speciments were taken from the endocervical, urethral, and rectal sites in 556 women seen at the Alameda County Venereal Disease Clinic, Oakland, California, U.S.A. There was no significant difference between the number of new cases found with the rectal speciments alone (nine out of a total of 154 cases diagnosed) and those revealed by the urethral site alone (seven). It is suggested, however, that the urethral specimen has importance, since it does yield cases not otherwise identified. The possibility of culturing endocervical, rectal, and urethral specimens from a given patient together on a single Thyayer-Martin plate is discussed. Such a method would afford increased possibilities of isolating N. gonorrhoeae at a markedly reduced cost. It is recommended that studies be undertaken in this connection.