The possible role of anaerobic bacteria in chronic prostatitis

Abstract

Prostatis, the most common urological disease in men, afflicts between 25 and 50% of all adult men. Four clinical categories are recognized: acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis, non-bacterial prostatitis and prostatodynia. The role of Gram-positive aerobic bacteria and the different anaerobes in chronic bacterial prostatitis is still a matter of debate. During this study, the urethral discharge and the prostatic fluid obtained after prostatic massage of 50 patients with chronic prostatitis, confirmed by clinical examination and resistant to empirical quinolone therapy, were cultured under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The parallel specimens from 24 patients exhibited high colony counts of Gram-positive and Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria, either alone (18 cases) or in combination with aerobic bacteria (6 cases). The specimens obtained after prostatic massage of the remaining 26 patients were completely negative for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. No Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum or Trichomonas vaginalis were isolated from these patients. Patients with chronic prostatitis who gave positive culture results for anaerobes were treated with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid or clindamycin for 3-6 weeks. After treatment, samples were again taken and cultured for all pathogens known to cause prostatitis. These post-therapeutic samples revealed a decrease or total elimination of the symptoms, and no anaerobic bacteria could be detected.

Association between the presence of bacterial 16S RNA in prostate specimens taken during transurethral resection of prostate and subsequent risk of prostate cancer (Sweden)

“…The same problem was encountered by others while attempting to clone 16S RNA products from fresh prostate tissue [12]. Pseudomonas sp., Actinomyces sp., Streptococcus mutans, Corynebacterium sp., Nocardioides sp., Rhodococcus sp., Veillonella have all previously been reported to be either isolated or detected by PCR in various prostate diseases [11,12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The finding of P. acnes as a predominant isolate is intriguing in the light of recent data on isolation of the bacteria from the prostate in 35% of patients with prostate cancer [10].…”

“…The finding of P. acnes as a predominant isolate is intriguing in the light of recent data on isolation of the bacteria from the prostate in 35% of patients with prostate cancer [10]. P. acnes has also been cultured from the prostate of patients with idiopathic prostatic inflammation [15,21,26] as well as from prostate specimens of patients with benign prostate hyperplasia [22,24]. The median isolation rate of P. acnes reported in these studies was 12% (range 3-30) as compared to 6% (22 out of 352 samples) in our study.…”

Evaluation of acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis and diagnostic management of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome with special reference to infection/inflammation

“…Escherichia coli was the predominant pathogen. Using the same technique in 50 men with symptomatic prostatitis, anaerobic bacteria were cultivated in high numbers in 18 patients [7]. The authors postulate an association between symptoms and evidence of these bacteria.…”

Microbiology of the Prostate

“…Szöke et al [24] examined specialized EPS cultures in 50 patients with chronic prostatitis. They identified gram-positive aerobes, such as coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, as well as various gram-positive and gramnegative anaerobes.…”