Etiologic infective agents in chronic prostatis

ABSTRACT

Chronic prostatitis is a very common entity but many uncertainties exist about its etiology. In this study, 102 patients with more than 20 WBC's/HPF in EPS, and 100 controls, had their samples tested for aerobic and anaerobic organisms. 30 patients with non bacterial prostatitis and 62 controls were tested for chlamydia trachomatic antigen using ELISA. 50 patients with prostatitis and 20 controls were tested for urea plasma urealyticum. Chlamydia trachomatis was identified in the specimens of 4 [13.3%] out of 30 patients but in none of 62 controls. Additional epidemiologic data suggesting a role of chlamydia in prostatitis, as its age distribution in this study [mean of 30.2] coincided with the known age distribution of chlamydia in epididymitis where it is a well established pathogen. Mean number of WBC's/HPF in EPS was lower with chlamydia [30] than the rest of the patients [46]. This conforms with its propensity for low inflammatory response. A statistically significant difference between the patients and control groups was also found for gram negative organisms. Proteus was more frequently identified [6.8%] than E. Coli [3.9%]. Staph. albus was the most common gram positive organism [39.2%] followed by Staph. aureus [5.8%]. Anaerobic organisms and ureaplasma urealyticum were more isolated from patients than control. However, the difference is not statistically significant