Chronic prostatic infection: Microbiological findings in two Mediterranean populations

INTRODUCTION/AIM: Despite accumulated knowledge, several microbiological aspects of chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP) remain uncertain. The aim of our study was to determine microbiological characteristics on our CBP population. MATERIALS: The material of this retrospective study consisted in bacterial isolates from urine and/or prostatic secretions or sperm cultures (total ejaculate) obtained from individuals with prostatitis symptoms and from patients with febrile relapses of CBP visiting our department, from 03/2009 to 03/2015. Retrospective data from an Italian single-center database (years 2009-2015) were also collected for a tentative comparison of pathogen prevalence between chronic bacterial prostatitis cases assessed in Greece and Italy. RESULTS: A total of 389 bacterial isolates obtained from eligible Greek patients constituted the material of the study. While E coli was the most frequent individual pathogen, Gram-positive species were overly more frequent than Gram-negative. Besides the high frequency of E. coli and E. faecalis isolates the most remarkable similarity between Greek and Italian databases was the wide array of different Gram-positive and Gram-negative species isolated from CBP patients. CONCLUSIONS: In Greece, the incidence of CBP is possibly higher than that reported in international surveys. Similarities between Greek and Italian databases suggest geographical trends in CBP epidemiology.