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. 2015 Aug;9(8):OD01-2.
doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2015/14736.6304. Epub 2015 Aug 1.

Purple Urine Bag Syndrome

Naufal Rizwan Taraganar Abubacker  1 , Senthil Manikandan Thirumanilayur Jayaraman  1 , Kannan R  2 , Magesh Kumar Sivanesan  3 , Renu Mathew  4
Affiliations

Purple Urine Bag Syndrome

Naufal Rizwan Taraganar Abubacker et al. J Clin Diagn Res. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Purple urine bag syndrome (PUBS) is a rare disorder seen in elderly persons, wherein the urinary bag and the tubing turn in to purple colour. It is usually seen in patients who are on urinary catheters for a long time. Purple coloured urine occurs due to the accumulation of indigo and indirubin, which are the end products of tryptophan metabolism due to the action of sulfatases and phosphatases formed by bacteria like Providencia, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella etc. We present this interesting phenomenon of purple urine in a young male who was on prolonged urinary catheterization. The urine culture was positive for Providencia and constipation was an added risk factor for the purple urine. The urinary catheter and tubing was changed along with a course of antibiotics which lead to the normalization of the urine colour.

Keywords: Indigo; Indirubin; Pink purple urine; Providencia; Tryptophan.

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Figures

[Table/Fig-2]:
[Table/Fig-2]:
Urinary bag and tube showing purple coloured urine
[Table/Fig-3]:
[Table/Fig-3]:
Mechanism of purple colour urine formation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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