[Urinary tract infection following kidney allotransplantation: differentiation between bacterial colonization and bacterial infection].

Among 124 recipients of a renal allotransplant (22 men, 52 women), 60 patients (27 men, 33 women) showed more than 10(6) colony-forming units/ml midstream urine on one or several occasions. 26 patients (10 men, 16 women) did not present with leucocyturia whereas 23 (10 men, 13 women) did so. Urine samples were examined 1/2 to 5 1/2 years after transplantation. The comparison of the 2 groups of patients with and without leucocyturia revealed the following: there was no age difference; during the first year after grafting, bacteriuria with leucocyturia was more common; recurrent and de novo infections, dysuria, pyelonephritis and demonstration of E. coli were more frequent. Therapy was more effective in cases of bacteriuria without leucocyturia; the serum creatinine was more seldom elevated above the normal range and complications with ureters, bladder emptying or stenoses of the urethra were more seldomly observed.