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| Examination of Gram Stains of Cervical and Urethral Discharges |  |
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| Created: Tuesday, 06 February 2007 |
| Last update: Wednesday, 28 September 2011 |
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 Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Enlarged view) | Slide 1. Neisseria gonorrhoeae This Gram stain of urethral exudate reveals several gram-negative diplococci within numerous neutrophils. When gram-negative diplococci are only outside the neutrophils, cultures of specimens from males will usually be positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae; in specimens of cervical secretions, however, a predominance of extracellular organisms indicates that many are nonpathogenic Neisseria species rather than N. gonorrhoeae. |
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 Nongonoccal urethritis (Enlarged view) | Slide 2. Nongonoccal urethritis This gram stain of urethral exudates reveals several neutrophils and urethral epithelial cells but no organisms. Chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum, the microbes causing most cases of nongonococcal urethritis, are not visible with Gram stain. Bacteria that ordinarily colonize the urethra, especially gram-positive cocci and bacilli, are often present in the urethral discharges of patients with nongonococcal urethritis, but are not considered pathogenic. |
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 Chlamydia trachomatis (Enlarged view) | Slide 3. Vaginal fluid from a patient with cervicitis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis |
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These images are from the original published atlas: Tenover, F. C., and J. V. Hirschmann. 1990. Interpretation of Gram stains and other common microbiologic slide preparations. The UpJohn Company, Kalamazoo, Mich. Permission granted to the ASM MicrobeLibrary by Pfizer Inc.
This atlas was written to help clinicians, microbiologists, and laboratory personnel identify organisms in infected materials stained by techniques commonly used in most clinical laboratories. Please refer to the atlas' main page for more information and a guide to all of the images.
Gram stains of urethral discharges are the most rapid method of diagnosing gonococcal urethritis. When gram-negative diplococci are visible within neutrophils, the sensitivity of the Gram stain is 95% in the case of males with symptomatic urethritis and culture positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae.The sensitivity of the Gram stain for detecting gonococcal infection is about 60% for specimens from males with asymptomatic urethritis, 40 to 70% for specimens from females with symptomatic cervicitis, and 30 to 65% for specimens from males with symptomatic proctitis. The specificity in each group is about 95%. |
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| Tags: Cell biology (250) , Microbes in humans (373) |
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