[UTIscreen versus UROQUICK: two semiautomatic systems for bacteriuria detection]

Area of Science:

• Clinical Microbiology
• Diagnostic Technology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Urinary tract infections (UTIs) necessitate rapid and dependable diagnostic methods.
• Evaluating novel automated systems for urine analysis is crucial for timely patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of two semiautomatic urine screening systems: UTIscreen and UROQUICK.
• To compare their performance against standard semiquantitative plate culture for UTI diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study involving 1,070 urine specimens from patients with suspected UTIs.
• Inoculation of each specimen into both UTIscreen and UROQUICK systems.
• Comparison of results with semiquantitative plate culture as the gold standard.

Main Results:

• Both UTIscreen and UROQUICK demonstrated comparable specificity and sensitivity at a 30,000 CFU/ml breakpoint.
• A low incidence of false-positive results was observed for both systems.
• Uninfected urine specimens could be reported on the same day.

Conclusions:

• UTIscreen and UROQUICK are suitable for UTI screening, offering reliability and ease of use.
• UTIscreen's faster reading time allows for same-day reporting of negative results.
• This efficiency facilitates prioritizing positive samples for further culture within standard laboratory workflows.