Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How urine storage affects dog UTI bacterial testing accuracy
By Hedström, M et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2021·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The effect of urine storage temperature and boric acid preservation on quantitative bacterial culture for diagnosing canine urinary tract infection.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that urine samples from dogs suspected of having a urinary tract infection (UTI) can be preserved effectively using boric acid, allowing for accurate testing even if the samples can't be refrigerated immediately. Out of 141 dogs tested, 40% had significant bacteria in their urine, and the results showed that urine could be stored at room temperature with boric acid for at least 24 hours or refrigerated for up to 48 hours without losing accuracy in diagnosing a UTI. This means that if your vet collects a urine sample, it can still be tested reliably even if there’s a delay in getting it to the lab.
People also search for: dog urinary tract infection symptoms · how long can dog urine be stored for testing · boric acid urine preservation for dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Quantitative 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. RESULTS: Significant 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). CONCLUSIONS: Boric 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.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34879836/