The Occurrence of Yeast-Like Fungi in the Urine Under Normal Conditions and in Various Types of Urinary Tract Pathology

Abstract

The frequency of funguria in a normal material and in a material of patients with different types of urinary tract pathology not associated with stasis or bacterial infection was found to be 2.3% and 0.63% respectively. The urine specimens were clean voided midstream samples. When the frequency of funguria in the normal material was redetermined on more satisfactory urine specimens (for women, a catheterized sample, for men, a clean voided midstream sample), funguria was no longer found. Thus, what had seemed to be funguria had been due to contamination by vaginal or fecal flora. In an unselected male clinic material, funguria was found in 29 of 148 patients. The factors that predisposed to funguria in these patients seemed to be the combination of the presence of an indwelling catheter and antibiotic therapy. Patients who had undergone surgery involving coeco-cystoplasty or the creation of a cutaneous uretero-ileostomy were found to have massive funguria post-operatively, which, however, cleared spontaneously. Funguria can be present for a long time without having any apparent deleterious effect on the patient. The urinary tract has considerable ability to get rid of yeast-like fungi.