Antigénuries : indications de prescription et apports thérapeutiques dans les pneumonies aiguës communautaires

Urinary antigen tests are quick and simple tests helping to provide an etiological diagnosis in community-acquired pneumonia. However, their prescription is sometimes excessive and performed in unjustified situations. The therapeutic benefit is limited. Indeed, studies show that appropriate antibiotic therapy based on the result of urinary antigen tests does not improve the cost and the patient survival compared to empirical antibiotic therapy. One must be careful before antibiotic therapy reduction based on the sole negative result of urinary antigen test. Legionella urinary antigen test is the most commonly method used for the diagnosis of legionellosis but must be prescribed in a specific clinical context. Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen test is especially interesting in the epidemiological surveillance of pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia.