Infection risk and potential contamination of urine specimens associated with sample port design of catheter leg bags.

The ease of disinfection of the sample ports of three types of urine drainage leg bags with different sampling port systems was assessed using a bladder bag model. The ports were contaminated with Escherichia coli, 'disinfected' using a standard method, then sampled at time intervals up to one week after contamination. It was discovered that leg bags which employ a needle-based sampling system (the 'sample safe port system') were easier to disinfect than those which did not, and that organisms are retained in large enough numbers to lead to misdiagnosis of a urinary tract infection or to pose a retrograde infection risk.