The myth of the clean catch urine specimen.

Urine specimens obtained from unprepped ambulatory females who voided into an unsterile disposable plastic cup showed a 95-per cent correlation with a catheterized specimen collected from a prepped patient through a sterile cystoscope. From these data, it appears that the midstream urine specimen and its unpleasant collection routine can be eliminated. We have found that specimens collected at anytime during voiding in unsterile disposable plastic cups result in reliable urine cultures.