Failure of antibody-coated bacteria and bladder washout tests to localize infection in spinal cord injury patients.

The validity of the antibody-coated bacteria test and Fairley washout procedure to determine whether urinary tract infections were of kidney or bladder origin in spinal cord injury patients was assessed by comparing test results with those obtained from culture of ureteral urine specimens. It was concluded that neither the presence of antibody-coated bacteria nor a positive bladder washout test can be considered as definitive evidence that bacteriuria is of renal origin in these patients.