Utility of Chromogenic Media against Conventional Culture Techniques for Isolation of Bacterial Uropathogens in Resource Poor Settings

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) are one of the most frequent infections encountered in hospital settings as well as in community, making urine the most cultured specimens in laboratories across the world. Urine samples occupy most of the time and manpower in the form of resources in the microbiology laboratories. Aim: The study was planned to evaluate chromogenic media against conventional techniques in terms of correct identification and colony count with ease of reporting with less human resource and reduction in the cost. Materials and Methods: This Cross-sectional Prospective Analytical study was carried out from 1st July 2018 to 31st August 2018 at Raipur Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur after due approval from Institutional Ethics Committee for waiver of consent. Urine samples received in bacteriology laboratory were inoculated on CLED agar and chromogenic media simultaneously and incubated overnight. Isolates were identified by colony’s colour for Hichrome UTI agar and by standard microbiological techniques for CLED agar. The results were then maintained in Microsoft Excel and were analysed using test of proportion and significance. Results: A total of 35/77 samples were culture positive with 46 clinical isolates. E.coli, 20/46 (43.47%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae 8/46 (17.39%) followed by S. aureus and Candida albicans with 6/46(13.04%) each were predominant isolates. HiChrome UTI agar was found to be highly significant with p-value of <0.001 with a sensitivity and specificity of 88.57% and 92.85% respectively with an average time of 20 hours for identification when compared with conventional media. Conclusion: Chromogenic media is highly sensitive and specific for detection of urinary pathogens and will help to reduce time, cost and workload in resource poor settings.

Keywords

• cled agar
• hichrome uti agar
• urinary tract infection