Etiologic role of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in women with the acute urethral syndrome.

In an assessment of the possible etiologic role of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in the acute urethral syndrome (AUS) in women, 79 women with AUS, 35 women with acute bacterial cystitis, and 66 asymptomatic volunteers were studied. Evidence against an etiologic role for M. hominis in AUS included: (1) a similar prevalence of the organism among women with AUS (18%), women with cystitis (29%), and asymptomatic women (15%); (2) a lack of association of M. hominis with AUS cases for which no other infectious cause was found; (3) a lack of association of pyuria with cases of infection in which M. hominis was isolated; and (4) an absence of M. hominis from cultures of bladder urine obtained by suprapubic aspiration. A possible etiologic role for U. urealyticum in some cases of AUS was suggested by the association of counts of this organism of greater than or equal to 10(3)/ml with pyuria in women whose AUS had no other apparent etiology and by the isolation of the organism from suprapubic aspirates from four of 15 women with AUS of unknown etiology. Further studies, similar to those done in men with nongonococcal urethritis, are necessary for confirmation of the causative role of U. urealyticum in AUS.