title: Evaluation of BACTEC system for urine culture screening.
abstract: We compared urine culturing performed by the calibrated loop method with a screening system (BACTEC). A total of 852 urine specimens were examined by both the conventional loop method and the BACTEC system. With the loop method, 193 (22.6%) urine samples were positive, whereas with the BACTEC system, 185 (21.7%) were positive (sensitivity, 96.01%). At a breakpoint of 10(4) CFU/ml, eight false-negatives were detected (sensitivity, 87.09%), and at a breakpoint of 10(5) CFU/ml, four false-negatives were observed (sensitivity, 97.6%). The specificity of the BACTEC system was 100%. We propose the BACTEC method as an effective alternative to the other growth-dependent screening tests for bacteriuria.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Brescia University, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Colombrita
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ravizzola
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pirali
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manni
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Savoldi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turano
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D001437:Bacteriuria / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests