Occurrence of neisseria other than the gonococcus in the genital tract.

Cultural methods are now widely used for the diagnosis of gonorrhoea, and a positive culture offers the only incontrovertible proof of the diagnosis. The bacteriological criteria for the identification of the gonococcus are clearly defined, but in routine work they are not always stringently applied. An organism with an oxydase positive colony which microscopical examination shows to be a Gram-negative diplococcus is often accepted as a gonococcus without further investigation. Many workers have reported the finding of other Neisseria besides the gonococcus in the genital tract, but there is little information as to the frequency with which these organisms are found and thus the size of the diagnostic problem they present is uncertain. To obtain this information an attempt was made to carry out a full identification of all Neisseria found in cultures from patients at their first attendance at the Whitechapel Clinic. Specimens from presumably healthy pregnant women have also been examined.