[Incidence and management of male urethritis in the district of Tunis]. / Incidence et prise en charge des urétrites chez l'homme dans le district de Tunis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of male urethritis and the relative frequency of the different etiological agents in order to adapt standard case management. METHODS: The incidence of urethritis has been estimated with a postal study made on a sample of druggists (1/10) of the area. The total observation period was four weeks. The relative frequency of the etiological agents and the positive predictive value (PPV) of the therapeutic approach based on antibiotic treatment of gonorrhoea and Chlamydia trachomatis was achieved on 92 cases of male urethritis attending general physicians in two polyclinics. RESULTS: The annual incidence of male urethritis was estimated at 680 per 100,000. The relative frequency of etiological agents was as 34.7% for Neisseria gonorrhoea, 7.6% for Chlamydia trachomatis and was found at 3.3% for Trichomonas vaginalis; the PPV was only 43% because of the high proportion of negative results reported by the laboratory. CONCLUSION: Gonococcal urethritis incidence tends to decrease regarding non gonococcal urethritis and the therapeutic approach appears to be warranted.