Four hundred three men with signs and symptoms of urethritis were examined by stained slide and culture of urethral exudate. Of these slides, 14.1% were interpreted as "borderline" for gonorrhea, ie, showing typical Gram-negative diplococci on microscopic examination located extracellularly only. Of these, only 10.5% were culture positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Patients with urethritis whose slides are "borderline" should be treated as for nongonococcal urethritis with tetracycline hydrochloride and not with aqueous penicillin G procaine.