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.