Comparison of chromogenic and cysteine lactose electrolyte deficient agar for identification of uropathogens in Gujarat, India
Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are prevalent bacterial infections, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnosis for timely treatment. Conventional culture techniques, such as cystine lactose electrolyte deficient (CLED) agar, can delay treatment and contribute to inappropriate antibiotic...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AOSIS
2025-02-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Laboratory Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/2551 |
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| Summary: | Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are prevalent bacterial infections, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnosis for timely treatment. Conventional culture techniques, such as cystine lactose electrolyte deficient (CLED) agar, can delay treatment and contribute to inappropriate antibiotic use. Not much is known about alternatives such as chromogenic UTI agar.
Objective: The study aimed to assess the performance of chromogenic UTI agar compared to conventional methods for identifying uropathogens, especially in polymicrobial infections, and to determine its sensitivity, specificity, time efficiency, and cost-effectiveness for UTI diagnosis.
Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2024 to June 2024 in the Microbiology Department of M.P. Shah Government Medical College in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. Urine samples from patients with suspected UTIs (n = 250) were processed using both chromogenic UTI agar and CLED agar. The performance of chromogenic UTI agar was assessed for pathogen identification, detection of polymicrobial infections, time to results, and cost-effectiveness.
Results: Chromogenic UTI agar detected single bacterial growth in 63/250 (25.2%) samples, and mixed bacterial growth in 24/250 (9.6%) samples, whereas CLED agar showed single bacterial growth in 67/250 (26.8%) samples and mixed bacterial growth in 10/250 (4%). The chromogenic medium provided preliminary results 5.5 h earlier (p 0.001) and final results 24 h earlier (p 0.001) than conventional methods. Cost analysis revealed a 33% reduction per-test cost using chromogenic UTI agar (p 0.001).
Conclusion: Chromogenic UTI agar demonstrated excellent performance in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of UTIs, including improved detection of polymicrobial infections.
What this study adds: When it comes to diagnosing UTIs, chromogenic UTI agar has several benefits over traditional techniques, such as high accuracy, enhanced detection of polymicrobial infections, and cost-effectiveness. The research backs up the inclusion of chromogenic medium in standard UTI diagnosis procedures. |
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| ISSN: | 2225-2002 2225-2010 |