Urinary infection in children in general practice: a laboratory view.

Children with urinary infection present at first to their general practitioners; paediatricians to whom they may be referred must assess the validity of the bacteriological diagnosis made at that time. With this in mind an analysis has been made of the laboratory findings in 2204 mid-stream urine specimens from 1586 children between the ages of two and 12 years examined at the request of their general practitioners during the course of one year. The contamination rate was shown to be low; 8% of the specimens from boys and 19% of those from girls showed definite infection, and the ratio of infections in boys to girls was 1:4. There was a considerable difference in the infecting organisms in the sexes. Analysis of the reasons for sending the specimens revealed that a high percentage of children who complained of urinary symptoms did not have infection. Of the children complaining of enuresis only there was a significantly greater incidence of infection in girls than in boys. In the absence of any large studies of urinary infection in domiciliary practice, data from a laboratory which serves many practitioners can contribute to knowledge of the disease.