Potential clinical application of an automated fluorescent microbial cell counter in the detection of urinary tract infection

Background Urinary tract infections (UTI) account for millions of office visits and approximately 400 000 hospital admissions every year in the United States; as a result, the cost burden of UTI in the USA is estimated at approximately $2.8 billion. There is a great deal of interest in finding newer, faster, and more reliable methods for diagnosing UTI as compared to the standard urine culture. Methods An automated fluorescent microbial cell counter was used to compare urine samples found to be positive forEscherichia coliUTI via cell culturing (n = 11) with UTI-negative samples (n = 10). Results Patients with a positive urine culture had significantly higher cell count results using the microbial cell counter (1.01 x 10(8)cells/mL) as compared to the negative samples (2.35 x 10(6)cells/mL;P = .0022). Conclusions These observations suggest that automated microbial cell counters may serve as a rapid, objective method for the detection of bacteriuria in urine samples submitted for evaluation of suspected UTI.