Experiences with a Screening Test for Bacteriuria

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Abstract
A comparison of the Testuria “mini-culture” method with a conventional quantitative cultural technic for determining bacteriuria has revealed that most patients with bacteriuria attending a urology outpatient clinic could be detected. The sensitivity approached or exceeded the 90% level. The predictive value was more than 95% for the negatives and still more than 60% for the positives in specimens with more than 100,000 bacteria per ml. When the Testuria “miniculture” method was used in a mass screening program the reliability changed. When the number of bacteria present was low, Testuria gave a greater number of false positive results. The specificity of 92% at the 50,000 and 60.6% at the 100,000 levels of bacteria per milliliter indicates that approximately 10% of the population screened required follow-up studies even though their specimens did not actually exceed these limits. Below the level of 50,000 bacteria per ml., the sensitivity of the Testuria method dropped to 66.8%, which is unacceptable for a screening test at that level. Testuria results correlated well with conventional methods when the number of bacteria was high, as is usually found in patients attending a urology outpatient clinic, but when the number of bacteria was low, Testuria gave a greater number of false positive results than did conventional urine culture technics.

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