Fastidious bacteria and the urethral syndrome: a 2-year clinical and bacteriological study of 51 women.

A two-year study of 51 women has shown a highly significant relation between high counts of fastidious organisms in the urine and the presence of symptoms. The patients, even when symptom-free, differed in this respect from a control group who had not had urinary symptoms for 2 years and from a group on long-term low-dose prophylaxis for recurrent urinary infection. The history, physical signs, and natural history of urinary symptoms in these patients were consistent with a diagnosis of urethral or paraurethral infection.