Epidemiology of urethritis in Ibadan.

This paper explores the frequency of different etiological agents causing urethritis among cases in the University College Hospital, Ibadan; the prevalence of gonococcal infections among housewives and prostitutes, and the incidence of isolation of T-strain mycoplasmas in the urethra of patients with nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) and a control group of Nigerian males. 6 groups of patients were studied: 442 men with urethral discharge and/or urethritis; 228 women with heavy vaginal discharge or consorts of male patients with symptoms; 130 symptomless women aged 15-45; 19 local prostitutes; 93 men diagnosed as having NGU; and 65 men aged 15-44 presenting at the outpatient department of the hospital with no genitourinary symptoms or history of urethral discharge in the last 6 months. 69% of the 442 male and 62% of the 228 female cases were aged 25 and above. Among them, 147 of the males and 38 of the females had gonorrhea, 15 males and 44 females had Trichomonas vaginalis, 9 men and 63 women had Candida albicans, and 271 men had NGU. 47.1% of men were infected by casual consorts, 21% by prostitutes, and 20.4% by their wives. 11.4% of females were infected by casual consorts and 63.1% by their husbands. T-strain mycoplasmas were isolated from 18 (19.3%) of the 93 patients with NGU and from 13 (20%) of the 65 controls. Among the 130 symptomless women, 19 had Trichomonas vaginalis, 15 had Candida albicans, 7 had gonorrhea, and 89 had no abnormal findings. Among the 19 prostitutes, 3 each had gonorrhea and trichomonas vaginalis, none had Candida albicans, and there were no abnormal findings in 13. A likely reason for the prevailing patterns of infection is that self-treatment of symptomatic disease is widely practiced, broad spectrum antibiotics being freely available. All the prostitutes took regular prophylactic treatments.