Asymptomatic meningococcal urethritis. Possible protective value against gonococcal infection by bacteriocin production.

Neisseria species other than N. gonorrhoeae have been reported to cause symptomatic urethritis in the male. Carpenter and Charles (1942) described seven such cases due to the meningococcus in which there were no signs or symptoms of meningococcaemia. Although several authors have described asymptomatic urethral carriers of N. gonorrhoeae (Bittiner and Horne, 1955; Landman and Gelmi, 1959; Pariser, Farmer, and Marino, 1964), there have been no reports of asymptomatic urethral infections by other Neisseria. We believe this to be the first report of asymptomatic meningococcal urethritis. The strain isolated from this patient is the first meningococcus reported to produce a bacteriocin with antigonococcal activity. Evidence is presented for the possible role of this bacteriocin in providing protection against gonococcal urethritis in vivo.