CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF A RAPID DIAGNOSTIC SCREEN (URISCREEN) FOR BACTERIURIA IN CHILDREN

Purpose: We assessed clinical use of the URISCREEN test for detecting significant bacteriuria in children and compared it to standard quant itative culture.Materials and Methods: URISCREEN detects catalase in u rine samples, reflecting the presence of at least 50,000 colony-formin g units per ml. or 10 somatic cells per high power field. Catheterized urine specimens from 200 consecutive children scheduled to undergo ur odynamic evaluation were tested by URISCREEN and quantitative culture methods. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive va lues, and accuracy were determined. Results: Of these specimens there were 22 false-positive and 16 false-negative URISCREEN results. Sensit ivity was 65.2%, specificity 85.7%, positive predictive value 57.7%, n egative predictive value 89.2% and overall accuracy 81%. Conclusions: URISCREEN is a rapid screen for bacteriuria. However, the high false-n egative rate limits clinical use in the pediatric urological patient f or whom detecting infection is essential.