Efectividad diagnóstica del idexx vetlab® ua™ como predictor de infección del tracto urinario inferior en pacientes caninos clínicamente sospechosos

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the percentage of urinary tract infections on 40 clinical suspicious canines using reactive strips and confirmation through urine culture, to isolate and identify the pathogen organism, and to determine the amount of bacteria present on the sample in order to evaluate the effectivity of reactive strips as a predictive test for urinary tract infections. Cystocentesis was used to attain the urine samples, which were immediately tested through reactive strips; each one of them was then sent to a private laboratory in order to obtain the urine culture. The exam was made through reactive strips, which were first impregnated in urine and introduced in a photometric analyzer, which emits immediate results. Once the result of the reactive strip was obtained, the rest of the sample was shipped to a private laboratory in order to determine the presences of photogenic organisms and the amount of colony forming units per milliliter through urine culture; process that lasted approximately three days. As a result, a positivity percentage exceeding the mean results was obtained, 57% if the total samples were positive for the urine cultures, being Escherichia coli the predominant pathogen (52,71%) followed by Staphylococcus saprofiticus (17,39%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (13.04%) and others (17,4%). The reactive strip had a sensibility of 91.3% and a specificity of 17.6%, positive predictive value of 60% and negative predictive value of 60%. In conclusion, the reactive strip is not a highly sensible test to diagnose urinary tract infection in canines, being necessary to confirm the results through urine culture. The investigative process used a descriptive statistical analysis.