Bacterial prostatitis: urine and spermatic fluid culture

To evaluate in a prospective study the sensitivity of urine and spermatic fluid cultures in identifying the presence of infection compared to Meares-Stamey's test (MSt) results. Fourty patients were diagnosed having bacterial prostatitis following MSt. They underwent both urine and spermatic fluid cultures after MSt results and immediately before antibiotic treatment. All the patients were asked which of the three examens was the least tolerable. Urine and spermatic fluid culture were negative in 36 and 4 cases respectively. Spermatic fluid culture identified infection in 36 out of 40 patients who underwent MSt (90%) and was more acceptable for the patients. Urine culture is a less accurate way of identifying the infective agent in prostatitis, compared to spermatic fluid culture. The latter procedure is similar to the MSt.