Clinical Research Directory

The Application of a Novel Urinalysis System (UF-5000) for Reducing Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Clinical Suspected UTI Patients

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common diseases in the population, while antibiotic resistance in UTI has become a critical problem in Hong Kong, with a large proportion of bacteria causing UTI resistant to commonly used anti-UTI antibiotic treatments. This resistance is largely due to empirical treatment (i.e. no bacterial information is available at the time of treatment) and antibiotic overtreatment over the past decades. Some patients without UTI were prescribed antibiotics because of symptoms similar to UTI. To avoid unnecessary antibiotic use and therefore reduce antibiotic resistance rates in UTI, the investigators propose to apply a new urine sediment analyzer (UF-5000) in clinical practice for UTI. The analyzer could provide rapid identification of potential bacteria in urine and more information on possible bacterial species. UF-5000 is a urine sediment analyzer manufactured by Sysmex Ltd. (Japan). The analyzer is widely used in hospital central laboratories and private laboratories but is not commonly seen in outpatient clinic settings. UF-5000 is capable of counting bacteria present in a urine sample and providing Gram staining results within 5 minutes, while routine urine culture takes around 3 days. A study conducted by The University of Hong Kong in 2019 showed that UF-5000 has higher accuracy than conventional dipstick testing, with reliable Gram staining results. The analyzer has a negative predictive value of 96%, indicating a high likelihood that a negative result corresponds to the absence of UTI. Cases with symptoms similar to UTI were mostly inflammatory diseases without a need for antibiotics. This study aims to evaluate whether bacterial information provided by UF-5000 can guide precise antibiotic treatment and avoid unnecessary antibiotic use.