We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

SYSMEX-EUROPA

Sysmex Europe designs and produces laboratory and hematology diagnostic solutions, including instruments, reagents, c... read more Featured Products: More products

Download Mobile App




Urinary Tract Infection Tracked by Routine and Automated Urinalysis

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 13 Sep 2016
Print article
Image: The UF-1000i fully automated urine particle analyzer (Photo courtesy of Sysmex Corporation).
Image: The UF-1000i fully automated urine particle analyzer (Photo courtesy of Sysmex Corporation).
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are frequently encountered and the diagnosis of UTI using urine dipstick, Gram stain, urine culture often lack proven accuracy and precision in the emergency department (ED).

Because of its swiftness and low cost, urine dipstick (UD) is a commonly used test at the ED, but diagnostic accuracy is, however, based on primary care settings and therefore not compatible with the ED. UTI is confirmed by results of urine cultures (UCs), which are labor intensive, time consuming, and not available within the time frame of an ED visit.

Scientists at the University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands) analyzed a total of 381 cases presenting with fever and/or clinically suspected UTI. The following specific symptoms for UTI were determined: dysuria, pollakisuria, urinary urgency, hematuria, and back pain/lower abdominal pain. In addition, specific symptoms of UTI were determined: fever, chills, malaise, flank or perineal pain, and delirium.

For Gram staining, 10 μL of uncentrifuged urine was used. The color (gram negative or gram positive); shape (rods or cocci); and number of leukocytes, erythrocytes, and bacteria per high-power field (hpf) were determined semi-quantitatively at 100 × 10 magnification. The automated stick reader cobas u 411 was used with the UD Combur10 test (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). For UC, 1 μL of urine was inoculated on two agars (sheep blood agar and MacConkey3 agar) and incubated at 35°C for 16-20 hours in ambient air. Isolated organisms were measured semi-quantitatively as number of colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter. For automated urine particle analysis, the team used the Sysmex UF-1000i (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan) is a fully automated urine particle analyzer based on flow cytometry.

The scientists reported 143 (37.5%) cases were diagnosed with UTI. Sensitivity of urine dipstick nitrite was 32.9% and specificity was 93.7%. Sensitivity of urine dipstick leukocyte esterase (3+) was 80.4% and specificity was 82.8%. Of the 143 cases with a UTI, 91 had a noninvasive UTI, 16 had a urosepsis confirmed by blood culture, 24 had a urosepsis based on clinical presentation, 11 had a pyelonephritis, and one had a prostatitis. Receiver operating characteristic curves of automated bacterial and leukocyte count showed area under the curve of 0.851 and 0.872, respectively. Cutoff values of 133 bacteria/μL and 48 leukocytes/μL resulted in a greater than 90% sensitivity.

The authors concluded that that in an unselected patient group presenting to the ED with suspected UTI, automated urine particle analysis with counts of leukocytes and bacteria results in comparable diagnostic accuracy compared with standard dipstick analysis but can slightly improve diagnostic accuracy, especially to make UTI unlikely, when added to standard clinical and UD analysis. The study was published in the August 2016 issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Related Links:
University Medical Center Groningen
Roche Diagnostics
Sysmex Corporation
New
Gold Member
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Test
hCG Quantitative - R012
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Malondialdehyde HPLC Test
Malondialdehyde in Serum/Plasma – HPLC
New
TRAb Immunoassay
Chorus TRAb

Print article

Channels

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.