Epidemiology of acute epididymo-orchitis in Singapore

A prospective study on 55 patients with acute epididymo-orchitis was studied. Their ages ranged from 15 to 65 years. Thirty-three (60%) were within the 20-29 year age group and 9 were above 35 years of age. 69% cited prostitutes as the source of sexual contact. Twenty-six patients did not receive and 29 patients received antibiotic therapy before recruitment. In the former untreated group, 6 patients (23%) had gonococcal urethritis, 3 patients (11%) had chlamydial urethritis and 2 patients (8%) had combined gonococcal and chlamydial urethritis. No pathogens were isolated from the urethra from the remaining 15 (58%) patients, 8 of whom had nonspecific urethritis. In the latter treated group, 4 patients (14%) had gonococcal urethritis and no organisms were isolated from the remaining 25 (86%) of whom 6 had non-specific urethritis. None of the 55 patients had urinary tract infections. Forty-three patients (78%) had unilateral involvement of both the testis and epididymis, and 4 patients (7%) had bilateral epididymo-orchitis. Semen analysis was performed on 13 patients of whom 8 showed pyospermia.