Dipslide cultures in the investigation of suprapubic urinary bladder aspirates of infants and children

Suprapubic aspirates (SPAs) of the urinary bladder obtained from 793 infants and children with suspected urinary tract infection were grown on dipslides inoculated at the bedside as well as being cultured aerobically and anaerobically. In general, the findings on dipslides were in good agreement with those in the other culture media. The majority of the 403 dipslide-positive samples contained 10(5) or more bacteria/ml; only in 2% was bacterial density less than 10(3)/ml. There were five specimens with no growth on dipslides; however, an organism considered to be significant for the patient was isolated in the other cultures. Thus dipslides proved to be adequate for the culture of most SPAs, but samples from patients with urological problems should be studied by more complete methods.