Gupta Kavita, Purushotham Prashanth, Vallurupalli Nischitha, Malik Bilal, Dash Saroj
Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Department of Microbiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2025 Jul;14(7):2837-2841. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_260_25. Epub 2025 Jul 21.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common bacterial infection worldwide. Symptoms of UTI in children is vague & non-specific and mostly underdiagnosed Standard urine culture (SUC) is the gold standard for detecting uropathogens but the clinical correlation and its implication in initiating antimicrobial therapy continue to be a question for decision-making. Enhanced quantitative urine culture (EQUC) was developed to overcome these limitations. However, its utility to diagnose paediatric UTI has not been well explored, necessitating the need for new diagnostic methods. The study was conducted to evaluate the utility of EQUC for isolation of bacterial uropathogens in children.
A prospective observation study was conducted and urine samples were collected and processed using both SUC and EQUC techniques. Microbial identification was performed using phenotypic characteristics and biochemical tests. VITEK 2 SYSTEM was used for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing whenever required.
A total of 156 samples were collected from 84 patients and subjected to SUC and EQUC techniques. SUC identified 50 positive samples (32.05%), while EQUC identified 87 positive samples (55.7%). EQUC recovered 25% more organisms compared to SUC. Escherichia coli was the most common organism isolated in both the techniques. Management of patients considering EQUC results showed better recovery in all age groups especially for midstream urine.
The EQUC technique demonstrated higher recovery rates of uro-pathogens compared to the SUC, making it a valuable tool for diagnosing paediatric UTIs.
尿路感染（UTIs）是全球最常见的细菌感染。儿童尿路感染的症状模糊且不具特异性，大多未得到充分诊断。标准尿培养（SUC）是检测尿路病原体的金标准，但临床相关性及其在启动抗菌治疗中的意义仍是决策的问题。为克服这些局限性，开发了增强定量尿培养（EQUC）。然而，其在诊断儿童尿路感染方面的效用尚未得到充分探索，因此需要新的诊断方法。本研究旨在评估EQUC在分离儿童细菌性尿路病原体方面的效用。
进行了一项前瞻性观察研究，收集尿液样本并使用SUC和EQUC技术进行处理。使用表型特征和生化试验进行微生物鉴定。必要时使用VITEK 2系统进行鉴定和抗菌药敏试验。
共从84例患者中收集了156份样本，并采用SUC和EQUC技术进行检测。SUC鉴定出50份阳性样本（32.05%），而EQUC鉴定出87份阳性样本（55.7%）。与SUC相比，EQUC培养出的微生物多25%。两种技术中分离出的最常见微生物均为大肠埃希菌。根据EQUC结果对患者进行管理显示，所有年龄组的恢复情况更好，尤其是中段尿。
与SUC相比，EQUC技术显示出更高的尿路病原体回收率，使其成为诊断儿童尿路感染的有价值工具。
