Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria among Antenatal Women Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital, Davangere, India

INTRODUCTION Asymptomatic Bacteriuria (ASB) is the commonest bacterial infection which requires medical treatment in pregnancy which can be diagnosed by urine culture and rapid screening tests. AIMS To determine the prevalence of ASB in pregnant women, to isolate, identify the etiological agents that cause ASB and to determine its antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. METHODOLOGY This study consists of 100 pregnant female patients in the age group of 18-45 years without any signs and symptoms of UTI. Clean catch midstream urine samples were collected and Urine culture was done using conventional microbiological techniques. Biochemical testing was used to identify the organisms and antibiotic sensitivity was done by the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method according to standard CLSI guidelines. Rapid screening tests were done by wet mount, grams staining, reagent strip test such as UROCOLOR 10 which detects both nitrite and leukocyte esterase (LE). RESULTS Out of 100 samples, 87 were sterile. Organisms in pure culture in significant number were obtained in 13 cases. ASB was more common in the low socioeconomic group, in the age group of 21-25years and the organism most commonly isolated was E. coli 5 (38 %). The screening tests like wet mount showed 92 % specificity, Grams staining showed 76 % of sensitivity, LE showed 91 % of specificity whereas nitrite test showed 98 % of specificity. CONCLUSION Urinary tract infection (UTI) are more common in pregnant than non-pregnant women. UTI are associated with risk to both the foetus and the mother, including pyelonephritis, LBW and increased perinatal mortality. The earlier diagnosis and proper antimicrobial treatment in these women would prevent the obstetric complications.