“How long should a urine culture take?”
I got my urine culture report after 6 days when the technician said it ideally takes up to 3 days. Could the report be faulty because of the delay?
7 Answers
The test result take from 1 – 3 days for the final urine culture. Thank you.
No. Urine cultures are usually checked as follows: 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours then 7 days. Most results from urine cultures are reliable after 3 days, but there are some organisms that take longer to grow beyond the usual 3. That is why it is prudent to issue final reports after 7 days.
RB Thomas, MD
RB Thomas, MD
Normally, it takes 3 days to report urine cultures. Sometimes, due to slow growing organisms, it might take longer, especially in hospitalized or catheterized patients where the results are of greater importance. Sometimes, due to the resistance against first line antibiotics, another day may be required to test further antibiotics.
No, the results are not going to be faulty. Blood culture bottles are checked periodically until 72 hrs. The culture positivity is detected by a very sophisticated electronic system and as the bacteria starts to grow, this system detects it and notifies the lab personnel.
No the delay won’t make it faulty
Not really. Sometimes culture results take longer than usual. The result should be valid if the culture processing is properly performed.
Sandra L. Aponte
Pathologist
They should not be faulty, however, that urine, if it was fresh, should have gotten to the lab before the end of the day, and if it got there after and it was fresh, then the results will be faulty. Those urines always have to be refrigerated so, hopefully, the courier that took the urine to the lab or the lab refrigerated the sample.
Good luck.
Good luck.
