Uricult and Sensicult dipslides for diagnosis of bacteriuria and prediction of drug resistance in primary health care.

Uricult dipslide as an indicator of bacteriuria yielded acceptable results in primary health care (PHC), and readings by local staffs were similar to those by laboratory technicians. Sensicult dipslide detected somewhat fewer bacteriurias and predicted bacterial drug sensitivity better than resistance (predictive values 93% and 50%, respectively). The mean risk of bacterial drug resistance against seven common urinary tract infection (UTI) antibiotics in PHC was 17%. The use of Sensicult for targeting UTI therapy resulted in an average risk of 7% for prescribing drugs to which the organism was resistant. The corresponding risk with Uricult for classification of UTI bacteria by Gram grouping, lactose and catalase reactions, and local guidelines for therapy of different bacterial groups, was also 7%. The latter method is simple, offers qualitative, and thus prognostic information, but can be further improved.