T-strain mycoplasma in non-gonococcal urethritis. Pathogen or commensal?

Abstract

The term "T-strain" was applied by Shepard (1954) to a strain of mycoplasma which, when cul- tured on solid agar, shows morphological differences from other members of the species (Shepard, 1956). Shepard (1954) recovered T-strain mycoplasmas from urethral scrapings taken from cases of non- gonococcal urethritis (NGU) and later found that this organism was present in some 70 per cent. of such cases (Shepard, 1956, 1959). Subsequently he postulated that T-strain mycoplasma was respon- sible for a specific type of venereal urethritis in which the incubation period was about 4 weeks with a range of 3 to 5 weeks; the symptoms were urethral itching, dysuria, and frequency of micturition, and the discharge was usually mucopurulent in character and scanty to moderate in amount (Shepard, Alexander, Lunceford, and Campbell, 1964).