Mycoplasma recovery from the male genitourinary tract: voided urine versus the urethral swab.

A study of Mycoplasma recovery from the genitourinary tract was made on a group of 50 males attending a venereal disease clinic. The purpose of the investigation was to compare recovery rates of mycoplasma from two types of clinical specimens-the urethral swab and voided urine. The total number of positive cultures did not differ significantly when either the swab or urine was used; Mycoplasma hominis type 1 was the only taxonomic species isolated, either alone or mixed with T-strain mycoplasma. Recovery rates of the two types from both the swab and the urine did not differ significantly. Age did not relate to the presence of mycoplasma in the group studied.