Urine culture and partial urinalysis in the diagnosis of urinary tract infections

Background: urinary tract infections are one of the most frequent causes of infectious disease in the medical practice.Objective: to describe the results of the sample processing of urine culture and partial urinalysis for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections, at the microbiology laboratory of the “Dr. Ambrosio Grillo Portuondo” Clinical-Surgical Hospital of Santiago de Cuba, in the period January-June 2018.Methods: an observational, descriptive, retrospective study was carried out at the laboratory and during the period herein declared. 91 samples of positive urine cultures and 65 partial urinalyses were included in the study. The following variables were assessed: age, sex, isolated microorganisms, antibiotic sensitivity test, and in the partial urinalysis, appearance, leukocyte count and presence of bacteria.Results: the female sex in the 31 to 50 age group prevailed, 34,1 % of the samples. The most isolated pathogens were: Escherichia coli for both sexes (female 67,6 % and male 61,5 %), followed by Enterobacter spp (10,7 % and 11,5 %) and for male sex Klebsiella spp (11,5 %). Bacterial resistance was higher for carbenicillin, in more than 90 %; amikacin was the most sensitive antibiotic, with a resistance of less than 30 %. In the partial urinalysis a higher percentage of very cloudy sample was observed, accompanied by countless leukocytes, as well as a greater amount of bacteria.Conclusions: there was a correlation between the physical-chemical and microscopic parameters of partial urinalysis and positive urine culture, with a close positive association.