Patent ID: 6984499

Claim:
A method of detecting the presence or urinary pathogens in a biological sample and of simultancously determining the susceptibility of the urinary pathogens to antimicrobial agents, said method comprising: providing a multicompartment assay device comprising: at least one compartment comprising a medium capable of sustaining growth of total microbial organisms; at least one compartment comprising a uropathogenic specific medium; and, at least one compartment comprising an antimicrobial susceptibility interpretation medium; placing a portion of the biological sample respectively in said at least one compartment comprising a medium capable of sustaining growth of total microbial organisms; said at least one compartment comprising a uropathogenic specific medium; and, said at least one compartment comprising an antimicrobial susceptibility interpretation medium comprising an antimicrobial agent; whereby metabolism of a signal generating substrate and production of a detectable signal in said at least one compartment comprising a medium capable of sustaining growth of total microbial organisms indicates the presence of microbial organisms in the sample; metabolism of a signal generating substrate and production of a detectable signal in said at least one compartment comprising a uropathogenic specific medium indicates the presence of urinary pathogens in the sample; and metabolism of a signal generating substrate and production of a detectable signal in said at least one compartment comprising an antimicrobial susceptibility interpretation medium indicates that the organisms lack susceptibility to the antimicrobial agent comprised in said antimicrobial susceptibility interpretation medium; and examining the compartments to determine the presence of urinary pathogens in said biological sample and the susceptibility of said urinary pathogens to said antimicrobial agents.