[Detection of bacteria in urine using dip-slides (1). Possible occurrence of false-negative results when dip-slides are used for urine containing antibacterial agents].

Dip-slides are used as semiquantitative microbial sampling devices that are simple to use in routine testing of urine to detect the presence of bacteria, and are recommended for use in "Standard evaluation of drug efficacy in UTI". Bacterial growth on currently available dip-slides, however, may conceivably be influenced by the presence of antibacterial agents in urine. We studied clinical performance of, and effects of antibacterial agents on, such dip-slides, using two types of dip-slides, URICULTE and DIASLIDE, both of which are newly developed urine culture devices. The quantitative conventional culture method was also used as the control. 1. When single species of bacteria are present in urine specimens of patients, results obtained using URICULTE and DIASLIDE agreed very well, and they, in turn agreed well with results obtained using the quantitative, conventional culture method, also. 2. When urine specimens were spiked with Gram-negative rods and Gram-positive cocci together, URICULTE fail to provide quantitative results because colonies were not well separated and confluent growth often resulted because of a large sample volume this device employs. DIASLIDE which used a smaller amount of sample, on the other hand, provided quantitative results with adequate separation of colonies. 3. When three antibacterial agents were added to urine specimens that were spiked with bacteria, DIASLIDE produced significantly higher numbers of colonies than URICULTE. The difference probably are due to the difference in volumes of specimens used in the two devices, the former device employs approximately 1/100 as much volume of specimen as the latter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)