Abstract

BackgroundQuantitative bacterial culture (QBC) is the gold standard for diagnosing canine urinary tract infection. Current guidelines recommend QBC within 24 h of urine collection and that unpreserved urine is refrigerated until culture. However, temperature-controlled transport is rarely feasible, indicating a need for alternative storage during transport of urine from primary veterinary practices to the microbiology laboratory.The objective was to investigate the effect of storage temperature and boric acid sponge-preservation on quantitative bacterial culture of canine urine.ResultsSignificant bacteriuria was detected in 72 out of 179 samples (40%) collected from 141 dogs. Overall accuracy was 94–98% for both storage conditions and time points. Non-inferiority (15% margin) to reference quantitative bacterial culture was evident for sensitivity, specificity and predictive values for both storage methods and time points, except for the negative predictive value for 48 h boric acid preservation (NPV: 89, 95% CI [79;95]). There was no significant difference between the sensitivity and specificity for either of the time-points (p-value = 0.07–1).ConclusionsBoric acid sponge-preservation using Uriswab™ is a useful alternative to refrigeration of urine samples during transport. Reliable quantitative bacterial culture results can be obtained from canine urine up to 48 h after collection if urine is refrigerated, and for at least 24 h if urine is stored using a boric acid-containing urine transport system.

Highlights

  • Quantitative bacterial culture (QBC) is the gold standard for diagnosing canine urinary tract infection

  • Reliable quantitative bacterial culture results can be obtained from canine urine up to 48 h after collection if urine is refrigerated, and for at least 24 h if urine is stored using a boric acid-containing urine transport system

  • The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of storage temperature and boric acid (BA) preservation on QBC of canine urine, using a commercial system composed of a urine preservation sponge with volume-dependent BA release (UriSwabTM)

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Summary

Introduction

Quantitative bacterial culture (QBC) is the gold standard for diagnosing canine urinary tract infection. Quantitative bacterial culture (QBC) with significant bacteriuria and compatible clinical signs is the gold standard for diagnosing urinary tract infection (UTI). Urine transport systems containing boric acid (BA) preservative are commonly recommended and described in human medicine [5,6,7,8,9], but research of their application in companion animal medicine is limited. Available commercial BA tubes are designed for use in humans and require 3–10 mL of urine to ensure a correct BA to urine ratio.

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