Non-specific urethritis associated with a tetracycline-resistant T-mycoplasma.

While the causes of venereally-acquired non-specific urethritis in men remain debatable, there is strong evidence that a tetracycline-sensitive infective agent is responsible for the majority of cases. Because the urethritis is abacterial, either mycoplasmas (Shepard, 1968; Ford, 1970; McCormack, Braun, Lee, Klein, and Kass, 1973) or Chlamydia (Dunlop, VaughanJackson, Darougar, and Jones, 1972; Oriel, Reeve, Powis, Miller, and Nicol, 1972; Richmond, Hilton, and Clarke, 1972) have become the main contenders for an aetiological role and a voluminous literature supports each viewpoint. The evidence supporting T-mycoplasmas as a major cause of non-specific urethritis consists of their high isolation rate of above 60 per cent. in most studies, and their sensitivity to tetracycline and erythromycin (Shepard, Lunceford, and Baker, 1966), but resistance to lincomycin (Csonka and Spitzer, 1969) which accords with the response of the disease to these antibiotics. The present report concerns the isolation of a T-mycoplasma highly resistant to tetracycline, in a patient whose urethritis was unaffected by the antibiotic.