[The importance of Scotochromogenous mycobacteria in the urine]

In order to find the significance of the presence of Scotochromogenous Mycobacteria in the urine, 155 cases with this finding and without other Mycobacteria were analyzed. Most had urinary symptoms (91.6%), abnormal urine analysis (62.5%), negative urine culture (71.7%), and changes in intravenous pyelograms (89.5%). Clinical and laboratory improvement was noticed in 70% of those who received antituberculous drugs and in 30% of those who did not receive them (P less than 0.01). All of the foregoing characteristics were present in each 23 patients with repeated isolations of Scotochromogens in the urine, and could be cases of urinary-tract disease due to Scotochromogens. In other patients this Mycobacteria could coexist with M. tuberculosis, or be a contaminant, although Scotochromogens were not found in the urine of 100 control subjects, a significant difference to these patients (P less than 0.0001).