Urinary tract infection during pregnancy--dipstick urinalysis vs. culture and sensitivity.

Although it is important not to ignore clinical symptoms suggestive of a urinary tract infection (UTI), especially in antenatal patients, samples which have no abnormalities detected on bedside urinalysis may not need to be sent to the laboratory for culture and sensitivity (C&S) testing. If leucocytes, blood and/or protein are found in the samples, then they may need to be sent to the laboratory for further assessment, but no treatment needs to be instigated before obtaining the culture and sensitivity result, unless indicated clinically. The presence of nitrites in the sample is, however, much more suggestive of a bacterial infection and samples must be sent to the laboratory.