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Definition

A urine culture is a diagnostic laboratory test performed to detect the presence of bacteria in the urine (bacteriuria).

Purpose

Culture of the urine is a method of diagnosis for urinary tract infection that determines the number of microorganisms present in a given quantity of urine.

Precautions

If delivery of the urine specimen to the laboratory within one hour of collection is not possible, it should be refrigerated. The health care provider should be informed of any antibiotics currently or recently taken.

Description

There are several different methods for collection of a urine sample. The most common is the midstream clean-catch technique. Hands should be washed before beginning. For females, the external genitalia (sex organs) are washed two or three times with a cleansing agent and rinsed with...