[Isolation of Ureaplasma urealyticum from patients with chronic prostatitis]

Ureaplasma urealyticum has been considered to be a pathogen of nongonococcal urethritis. To elucidate the pathogenicity of this microorganism in chronic prostatitis, U. urealyticum was isolated from patients with chronic prostatitis and prostatodynia. Using the Taylor-Robinson's method, U. urealyticum was detected in expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) or urine voided after prostatic massage (VB3) in 40 (41.2%) out of 97 patients with chronic prostatitis and 6 (20.0%) out of 30 patients with prostatodynia. Seventeen patients with U. urealyticum-positive chronic prostatitis, 13 of whom had failed to respond to the treatment by other antimicrobial agents, were treated with minocycline. In 16 (94.1%) of the 17 patients, U. urealyticum was eradicated and in 14 patients (82.4%), the elevated white blood cell count was markedly lowered in EPS or VB3. U. urealyticum may prove to be an etiological microorganism of chronic prostatitis.