Lab tests show 9.87% not 96% of Pinget pupils have presumptive UTI

Only 9.87 percent of the Pinget Elementary School pupils tested positive for presumptive urinary tract infection (UTI) as shown by results of the validation tests conducted by the City Health Services Office.
This disproved earlier news reports that 96 percent or 715 of the 745 students tested through dipstick screening were afflicted with UTI which health authorities refuted on account that dipstick screening alone does not give a definitive diagnosis for UTI or any other urinary tract anomaly. 
In a press briefing held on July 24, City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo announced that only eight of the 460 students screened tested positive for UTI based on urinalysis findings.
“Of the 460 students who underwent dipstick screening, 85 or 18.47 percent had positive results and of the 85, 81 underwent urinalysis where 20 or 26.61 percent had positive findings. Of these 20, only eight or 9.87 percent tested positive for presumptive UTI,” Galpo said.
Dr. Galpo along with Pediatric Nephrologist Dr. Claire Imbisan and Adult Nephrologist Dr. Virginia Mangati, both of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) stressed that the UTI finding on the eight students is considered presumptive and can only be confirmed through a more rigid test called urine culture and sensitivity.
All of the 20 students have been referred to the BGHMC to undergo further tests and necessary interventions.
Dr. Zoraida Clavio, the renal disease control coordinator of the CHSO explained that dipstick screenings only determine pathological changes in urine that may point to a possibility of UTI, kidney disease, diabetes and others and would require confirmatory tests like urine culture to establish the ailment.
She said UTI cases in the city have not reached the alarming level at any point in time.
The conduct of the dipstick screening is part of the Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP) of the Dept. of Health and the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) being implemented in the various public elementary schools by the CHSO.
DOH-CAR officer-in-charge regional director Dr. Amelita Pangilinan said the program was institutionalized after they saw the need for a strengthened preventive program in view of the increasing number of requests for hemodialysis assistance.
At present, renal disease is a growing health concern in the city as Dr. Galpo affirmed that kidney disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the city while Dr. Mangati said that in BGHMC alone, there is a 15-percent increase in the number of dialysis patients annually.
They said that in 2000, the identified major cause of kidney diseases was chronic glomerulonephritis (defined as a group of diseases that injure the part of the kidney that filters blood called glomeruli) prompting the REDCOP’s concentration on schoolchildren who are vulnerable to the disease.
However, at present the trend on the cause has shifted from glomerulonephritis to diabetes and hypertension necessitating likewise the redirection of the REDCOP to possibly include teenagers and adults in the barangays.
Department of Education Division Office Medical Officer Dr. Jocelyn De Jesus expressed hopes that the REDCOP will continue to cover all students in both elementary and high school to continue to safeguard them from renal problems.
Pinget Elementary School principal Helen Acop thanked health authorities for clearing the air and said the unfortunate incident may have created unnecessary alarm but also resulted to improved consciousness on UTI and other kidney diseases both on the part of the school and the students and parents.
The health officials who also included DOH-CAR Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Pira and DepEd Division Office Nurse-in-Charge Cynthia Cadawan reminded the public to help fight renal disease in their own families by adopting preventive measures and healthy lifestyles through increased water intake, lowering salt and sugar intake, shunning junk food, engaging in physical activity and eating a well-balanced diet.
“Note that all of these are free, no cost is required if only we put to heart and observe them religiously, we can protect ourselves and our family from kidney disease,” Dr. Pangilinan said. AILEEN P. REFUERZO / ABN

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