Eighty-six patients with balanitis/balanoposthitis who presented at the department of genitourinary medicine in Coventry between October 1989 and August 1990 were investigated. While 34 (41%) cases had no specific aetiological factor Candida spp. accounted for 26 cases (30%), and group B beta haemolytic streptococci for 11 cases (13%) (one patient, a diabetic, was culture positive for both Candida spp. and group B beta haemolytic streptococci). The remaining 14 patients had other miscellaneous causes of balanitis/balanoposthitis.