Journal of paediatrics and child health
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J Paediatr Child Health · Aug 2005
Diagnosing symptomatic urinary tract infections in infants by catheter urine culture.
Diagnosing infantile urinary tract infection (UTI) is difficult due to contamination during urine collection. Catheterization is convenient but diagnostic criteria (colony-forming units per millilitre (CFU/mL)) is controversial, especially in uncircumcised males. ⋯ Unlike suprapubic tap urine, catheter urine culture has to be interpreted against the clinical context or pretest probability and in terms of probability. In the scenario of a febrile infant where the pretest probability of UTI was about 5%, UTI was highly likely if counts exceeded 10(5)/mL, and unlikely if counts were below 10(4)/mL in uncircumcised boys. In female infants, UTI was highly likely if counts were >10(4) CFU/mL, but lower counts could not exclude UTI.