URINE CULTURE

Clean-voided midstream urine, suprapubic aspiration, nephrostomy fluid, cystoscopic sampling

• Specimen should reach the Microbiology Laboratory within 2 hours of collection.
• If delay in transportation cannot be avoided, specimens can be stored at 2 to 8°C for up to 24 hours.

Culture

Negative:
“No bacterial growth; Viable count < 100 cfu/mL”
“No bacterial growth; Viable count < 1,000 cfu/mL”
“No significant bacterial growth; Viable count < 10,000 cfu/mL”
“Mixed bacterial growth; Viable count ≤ 50,000 cfu/mL”
“Mixed bacterial growth; Viable count ≤ 100,000 cfu/mL”

Positive:
Identification of probable pathogen(s) 

Negative: 2 – 3 days

Positive: 3 – 5 days*
*Depending on the number and type of organism(s) isolated

Daily

• Use of urine bags to collect urine is discouraged
• Catheter specimens should be aseptically sampled from sampling port

• Urinary catheter (Foley) tips.
• 24-hour urine collections.
• Anaerobic culture (except for suprapubic aspirate specimens).