Diagnosing UTIs is ‘a dog’s breakfast,’ and that’s affecting women – CBC Radio
Dr. James Malone-Lee, a Professor Emeritus of medicine at the University College London spoke on CBC – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio and was critical of how UTIs are diagnosed and treated.
“The diagnosis of a urine infection is a dog’s breakfast. Most patients presenting to the primary care sector will have their urine tested with a dipstick test and that is grossly insensitive.”
He says the dipstick test is not sophisticated enough to detect any nuances or variances in the bacteria.
“The sensitivity is so weak that you cannot possibly make a judgment of disease on that evidence.”
With the potential of cultures demonstrating false negatives or wrong information, Malone-Lee says he decided to ban his medical staff from issuing this test for diagnosis.
“As a result of that we found that we can manage our patients on very simple … first-generation antibiotics.”