Comparison of Chromogenic media and coventional media in primary isolation and identification of urinary tract pathogens

Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are prevalent worldwide and are considered to be the most common type of bacterial infection in humans.The present study was undertaken to evaluate the use of chromogenic media as primary media for isolation of uropathogens and to compare it with the convention methods of isolation and identification of bacteria. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 samples were tested and inoculated on Blood agar(BA) and MacConkey agar(MA)and HiCrome UTI Agar media, Isolates were identified based on colour on HiCrome UTI Agar media and by standard identification protocol on MA and BA. Results: Out of 200 urine sample tested, 59 (29.5%) yielded significant growth of single organism and 5(2.5%) yielded polymicrobial growth of 2 or 3 organisms.Rate of presumptive identification of organisms in primary culture plate was high in HiCrome UTI agar media. For Escherichia coli, it was 94.73%) whereas and by Blood agar and MacConkey agar media in combination it was 76.31%. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that HiCrome UTI Agar media can replace use of conventional media in clinical laboratory as primary isolation media for urine culture particularly with common uropathogens like E.coli as it is user-friendly ,facilitates early reporting, saves time as well as cost and less labour intensive.