Tests for Early Detection of Paediatric Urinary Tract Infection

Urinary tract infection is the most common of all pediatric bacterial infections. This study aims to determine the efficacy of rapid diagnostic tests vs gram stain as against gold standard test (urine culture) and to find out the validity of each screening test for early detection of urinary tract infection in children. A cross-sectional study was conducted on children aged between 3- 15 years of suspected urinary tract infections from August 2020 to January 2021. Data collection was facilitated by using a predesigned checklist. The specimen was collected in a sterile, leak proof container by clean catch midstream technique and was subjected to urine microscopy, urine dipstick nitrite and leukocyte esterase, urine gram stain, and the gold standard test urine culture and sensitivity. Using the gold standard test, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the other screening tests were determined. The patient's mean age was 5.16 ± 2.7 years, and half were in the age group 3-5 years. The majority of the patients were male (54%). Fever (64%) was the major symptom, followed by pain in the abdomen (52%) and dysuria (40%). Escherichia coli was the most common organism isolated (54%), followed by Klebsiella (22%). Urine gram stain has sensitivity and specificity of 95% and 100% respectively. Urinary tract infection is a common infection in children. Urine gram stain is a very sensitive and specific test for diagnosing urinary tract infections compared to other screening tests. 