Evaluation of chromogenic agar medium. Can it be a suitable alternative to conventional culture system for identification of uropathogens?

Background and Objectives: Urinary tract infections (UTI) account for major proportion of outpatient load and hospital admission globally. In most of theclinical microbiology laboratories MacConkey agar (MAC) and Cystine lactose electro- lyte-deficient (CLED) agar are being used for identification ofuropathogens. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of HiCromeTM UTI by comparing isolation rate and presumptiveidentification of uropathogens against CLED and MAC agar. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted over a period of three months on 672 non-duplicate midstream and/or catheter-catch urine samples. All samples were inoculated on to HiCromeTM UTI, CLED agar and MacConkey agar. Results: Among the 672 samples received for culture, 113 (16.8%)showed significant growth. Among the 672 samples, 95 (14.1%) showed growth of a single organism while 18 (2.7%) showed polymicrobial growth. The rate of isolation and presumptive identification of theisolates and polymicrobial growth was found significantly higher on HiCromeTM UTI Agar. Conclusion: HiCromeTM UTI Agar has the potential to streamlineprocessing of samples for urine culture in a way that will reduce the workload for technicians, reduce turnaround time which in turn will benefit the laboratoryultimately leading to better patient care.