Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Using Amies charcoal swabs to store dog urine for bacteria tests
By Olivares, G et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2021·Department of Small Animal Internal Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The utility of Amies charcoal bacteriology swabs for storage of canine urine prior to culture.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that using special bacteriology swabs can effectively store dog urine samples for testing, even if they can't be processed right away. In the research, urine samples were collected from dogs and stored either in a sterile tube or on a swab for 48 hours before testing for bacteria. Both methods showed similar accuracy in detecting urinary infections, which is good news for pet owners who may need to delay testing. This means that if your dog has symptoms of a urinary tract infection, like frequent urination or straining to urinate, using these swabs can help ensure accurate results even if immediate testing isn't possible.
People also search for: dog urinary tract infection symptoms · dog urine culture test · how to collect dog urine for testing
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the usefulness of bacteriology swabs as a storage method of canine urine samples and the effect on quantitative bacterial culture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred fourteen canine urine samples were collected by cystocentesis. The reference aliquot was placed in a sterile tube and processed for quantitative bacterial culture within 6 hours. A bacteriology swab was then immersed in the urine for 5 seconds and returned to the charcoal Amies media container. The urine samples in the sterile tube and bacteriology swab were stored at room temperature for 48 hours and processed for quantitative bacterial culture. RESULTS: Thirty-seven of the samples were positive on reference culture with a total of 42 bacterial isolates. Samples stored in sterile tube and bacteriology swab had identical sensitivity and specificity for detection of bacteriuria (94.7% and 100%, respectively) with very good agreement (κ = 0.92; 95% CI 0.81 to 1.00). Agreement between the bacterial species of the reference sample and the bacteriology swab was higher (κ = 0.85; 95% CI 0.71 to 0.99) than compared to the sterile tube (κ = 0.78; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.94), but the overlapping confidence intervals mean improved agreement cannot be inferred. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Bacteriology swabs stored in Amies charcoal transport media should be considered an alternative method to preserve canine urine sample when immediate processing for quantitative bacterial culture is not possible. The sensitivity of culturing plain urine, stored for 48 hours in a sterile tube, for detection of bacteriuria, was higher than previously reported.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33274769/