A study of pyuria, bacteriuria, nitriteuria to evaluate initial screening test for urinary tract infection.

Urinary tract infection (UTI). a common ailment in children, women and elderly people is associated with pyuria, bacteriuria and nitriteuria . Its diagnosis, based on urine culture with significant bacteriuria, needs a good microbiological laboratory and trained microbiologist. Such facility is only available in urban areas of developing countries. Therefore, for rural areas, a simple and cost effective test is needed for rapid screening and referral of cases of UTI for culture and sensitivity test. This study was undertaken to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of pyuria, bacteriuria and nitriteuria individually and in combination by using urine culture as a gold standard in order to assess their use for initial screening of urinary tract infection.