The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 15, Issue 4 565-568, Copyright © 1982 by Society for General Microbiology
Anaerobic periurethral flora of healthy women and women susceptible to urinary-tract infection
I. J. Rosenstein, H. Ludlam, J. M. Hamilton-Miller and W. Brumfitt
The anaerobic periurethral microbial flora of 25 healthy women was compared
with that of 29 women attending the urinary-tract-infection clinic at the
Royal Free Hospital. The latter group consisted of 19 patients receiving
long-term prophylactic antimicrobial therapy and 10 with proven recurrent
urinary-tract infection not receiving prophylactic treatment. The numbers
and species of anaerobes isolated from each group were similar.
Lactobacillus spp. were the most frequently isolated organisms in each
group and the most numerous. Bacteroides spp. were the next most frequently
isolated. In any one subject, the anaerobic flora varied considerably
during the study period of approximately 6 months. Thus, the anaerobic
flora is not affected by recurrent urinary-tract infection in the past nor
by the use of prophylactic chemotherapy. It does not appear to exert a
protective role against the initiation of urinary-tract infection.
