Diagnosis of Gonorrhea in Male Patients by Culture of Uncentrifuged First-Voided Urine

THE VAST majority of gonococcal infections in men are localized in the uniquely accessible male urethra, where the disease usually manifests itself as an acute or chronic urethritis with recognizable symptoms and signs. The urethral site of these infections offers an unusually favorable opportunity for a simple method of collecting laboratory specimens, because the urethra can easily be washed out by the patient himself with a small amount of his own readily available urine. The report by Moore et al 1 in 1973 is apparently the only major study in the past 20 years on the use of urine for diagnosis of gonorrhea in the male. Riggs, 2 in a short letter to the editors ofThe Journalin 1975, recommended the use of a few drops of urine passed on a swab which is used as a culture sample. With the exception of Riggs' brief note, all previous studies