Pyuria and bacteriuria in hemodialysis patients

2. Isolated bacteria

Abstract

We report the results of a microbiological study of bacteriuria in hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal failure. Voided specimens were obtained from patients without any signs or symptoms of acute urinary tract infection.
More than half of the specimens yielded multiple organisms, and the incidence of polymicrobial isolation was higher in specimens from female patients than from male patients. The most common isolates were grampositive cocci, especially Staphylococcus species, in numbers≤10³CFU/ml. These results suggested contamination during urine sampling. However two-thirds of monomicrobial isolates with numbers≥10⁴CFU/ml were gram-positive cocci-Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus species. This would not be observed in non-oliguric patients and is not attributable to contamination.
We concluded that in hemodialysis patients the diagnosis of urinary tract infection must take their specific conditions in consideration.