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Certain bacteria convert urinary nitrates to nitrites, and a positive urine dipstick test for nitrites is highly specific for urinary tract infection (UTI). Researchers assessed whether urinary nitrite findings could be used to predict bacterial resistance to first-generation cephalosporin antibiotics in an unselected patient population. They retrospectively analyzed consecutive culture-positive urinalysis results from patients who presented to the emergency department of an urban teaching hospital from December 2002 to July 2003.
Of 654 urine samples with positive cultures, 12 had equivocal results for nitrites, leaving 642 for analysis. Most cultures (74%) grew Escherichia coli, and 5% grew enterococci. Overall, 36% of cultures were nitrit…