Dip-slide in patients at high risk of urinary tract infection

146 initial and follow-up urine specimens of a urinary tract infection clinic were processed simultaneously by a dip-slide and by a standard pour plate method to evaluate the reliability of this simplified urine culture technique in a population with a high incidence of urinary tract infections. The dip-slide method gave false-negative results in only 8.7% of infected urines (greater than 10(5) cfu/ml urine), as determined by pour plate method. 1.3% false-positives were recorded. The false-negative rate rose to 22.2% when the dip-slide was used on the urines from patients on antimicrobial therapy. Our findings suggest that this simplified urine culture method is a useful tool even in populations with high incidence of urinary infections, although more careful evaluation of these test results is necessary when antimicrobial drugs are present in the urine specimens.