Abstract:
The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence, bacteriological aetiology and
antibiotic susceptibility pattern of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy, to find the
correlation of the microscopic examination of the centrifuged urine deposit with standard
urine culture, to determine the effect of the following host factors on the incidence of
significant bacteriuria in pregnancy -age ,parity, past history of urinary tract infection
(UTI),past history of catheterization and socioeconomic status The prevalence of
asymptomatic bacteriuria in this study group was 3.7 per cent. Conliform organisms were
found to be the most common aetiological agents in asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy
of which escherichia coli predominates.Gram positive bacteria plays only a small role.
Nitrofurantoin could be considered as the drug of choice with a 95 per cent
sensitivity.ampicillin/amoxycillin can no longer be recommended as empirical therapy due
to high resistance. Pyuria detected by microscopy is a poor predictor of positive urine
cultures in asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy. Of the host factors evaluated only the
past history of urinary tract disease showed a statistically significant correlation with the
presence of bacteriuria in pregnancy. Other than this it is difficult to design a subgroup at
high risk.
