To the Editor:—
To answer the question, "Does antibiotic therapy, specifically lincomycin hydrochloride monohydrate, and the metabolic products resultant from this therapy present in the urine have any effect on the validity of urine glucose evaluation," the following experiment was done.An aliquot of urine was obtained from normal subjects (six per group) who had received either placebo, 300, 600, 900, 1,200, or 1,500 mg of lincomycin hydrochloride monohydrate given intravenously within a one-hour period. (Urine was collected over a 24-hour period from the start of the infusion.) Glucose was added to this urine in the following concentrations: 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, and 2.0 grams per 100 ml, which corresponds to the values (Clini-Test), respectively, of: trace, 1+, 2+, 3+, and 4+. The urine was tested prespiking and postspiking (Clini-Test, Tes-Tape, and Lab Sticks). (The latter two tests give only a positive or negative result.)All prespiking tests were negative.