Non-gonococcal urethritis: epidemiological and etiological study in Italy

The Authors report the results of a study on the etiology of non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) carried out on 180 male patients with NGU and on 50 healthy volunteers matched for age and sex. Chlamydia trachomatis infection was proven by culture in 54 (30%) of the NGU-patients and in none of the healthy controls. Ureaplasma urealyticum was recovered from men both with and without urethritis. Bacteria other than C. trachomatis were not found in NGU-patients in a significant percentage. All C. trachomatis-positive NGU-patients presented antibodies against C. trachomatis, by indirect fluorescence, while only 54% of C. trachomatis-negative NGU-patients and 22% of healthy volunteers, were positive. A further serological screening of 78 women with no history of urethritis or cervicitis and 44 children less than 10 years of age was carried out in order to investigate the prevalence of serum antibodies against C. trachomatis in groups of healthy population in Italy.