Using urinalysis test strips to detect bacterial skin infections
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using urinalysis test strips (ROCHE: COMBUR7 TEST) to detect bacterial skin infections
IRAS ID
200465
Contact name
Tang Ngee Shim
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Antibiotics should only be prescribed when they are truly needed. Sometimes, distinguishing between excoriated skin, impetigo (a type of bacterial skin infection) and eczema herpeticum (a viral skin infection) can be challenging for non-specialists and it is not uncommon for patients to be commenced on antibiotics and/or antiviral medications before microbiology results are available. A rapid test that can aid clinicians to make accurate determination of the presence of clinically significant bacterial skin infection by the bedside could potentially reduce inappropriate antibiotic use.
Urinalysis test is traditionally used to detect the presence of urinary tract infections. It has also been used as an aid to help diagnose bacterial infection of fluids contained within the abdomen. We propose that the urine dipstick strip could also be used to detect clinically significant bacterial skin infections (i.e. wounds that required oral or intravenous antibiotics). Urinary tract infections are suggested by a positive nitrites test and/or a positive leucocyte esterase test due to the chemical reactions between the contents of the urinalysis test strip and the infected urine.
We plan to recruit up to 30 patients with infected skin into this proof-of-concept study. We will swab their infected and non-infected skin with saline soaked microbiology swabs and then dab the swab against the urinalysis test strip. We hypothesise that the leucocyte esterase test will be negative in non-infected or healthy skin whereas the test is positive in bacteria infected skin. If our hypothesis is true, then this could help us plan future studies to assess if this test is accurate and reliable with the overall aim to improve diagnostic accuracy of skin infections, reduce inappropriate antibiotics use and improve patient safety.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0199
Date of REC Opinion
21 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion