Women with symptoms of a urinary tract infection but a negative urine culture: PCR-based quantification of Escherichia coli suggests infection in most cases.

Objectives: Our objective was to examine whether or not women with symptoms of a urinary tract infection but with a negative culture (20%-30%) do have an infection.

Methods: We performed quantitative PCR (qPCR) for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus saprophyticus, on top of a standard culture, in urine samples from 220 women with dysuria and/or frequency and/or urgency and from 86 women without symptoms. For symptomatic women, qPCR was also carried out for four sexually transmitted agents.

Results: In the symptomatic group, 80.9% (178/220) of the urine cultures were positive for any uropathogen and 95.9% (211/220) were E. coli qPCR-positive. For the control group, cultures for E. coli and E. coli qPCR were positive in, respectively, 10.5% (9/86) and 11.6% (10/86). In the symptomatic group, qPCR yielded 19 positive samples for S. saprophyticus qPCR, one positive sample for Mycoplasma genitalium and one for Trichomonas vaginalis.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that almost all women with typical urinary complaints and a negative culture still have an infection with E. coli.