Role of organisms of the pleuropneumonia group in human genital infections.

The isolation of organisms of the pleuropneumonia group from the human genital tract has aroused considerable interest in view of the attention now being paid to the aetiology of non-specific (non-gonococcal) urethritis. The first isolation of a pleuropneumonia-like organism from man was made by Dienes and Edsall (1937) from a Bartholin's abscess. Dienes and his associates (Dienes, 1940; 'Dienes and Smith, 1942; Dienes and others, 1948) later showed that organisms of the pleuropneumonia group were frequent inhabitants of both male and female genital tracts, and suggested that these organisms might cause infection. Beveridge, Campbell, and Lind (1946) isolated pleuropneumonia-like organisms from the urethra of 20 per cent. of men with non-specific urethritis; urethral cultures from healthy men were negative. Harkness and Henderson-Begg (1948) obtained sinilar results, so that it appeared possible that pleuropneumonialike organisms might cause non-specific urethritis. More recently, however, pleuropneumonia-like organisms were found in urethral cultures from 10-16 per cent. of men without evidence of infection (Harkness, 1950; Mel6n and Linnross, 1952). Positive isolations from the female were even more frequent; in one series of 300 cervical cultures, 26 per cent. were positive (Randall, Stein, and Ayres, 1950). The organisms were found more frequently in women with genital infection than in those with no evidence of infection; cultures from a small number of virgins were negative (Mel6n and Odeblad, 1952). The significance of organisms of the pleuropneumonia group in genital infection was discussed by Edward (1952), who did not consider that the evidence was sufficient for conclusions to be drawn. Although the organisms had sometimes been