Asymptomatic bacteriuria in infants in eastern Turkey.

In this study, the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) was investigated in the 146 infants without symptoms suggesting urinary tract infection, age ranged from 29 days to 15 months (mean 4.56 +/- 3.30 months). Our purpose was to determine the prevalence ofABU in infants living in Eastern Turkey and to define the relationship between pyuria and ABU in infants. Of 146 infants, 77 (52.7%) were males, and 69 (47.3%) were females. Although we would like to select randomized healthy infants for the study, 47 (32.1%) infants had a mild to severe malnutrition. While various microorganisms were cultured in 41 (28%) infants in the first urinary culture, only 18 (12.3%) infants had a positive culture in the second urinary culture. The prevalence of ABU was 12.3%. Although ABU prevalence was higher in the infants with malnutrition than those without malnutrition (14.8% 1 vs. 11.1%), there was not a difference between the groups (p>0.05). There was a positive relation between urinary culture positiveness and pyuria (p < 0.001). The prevalence of ABU was much higher (12.3%) than the literature data, which was probably related to very low socioeconomic status of our region where malnutrition and its related disorders are commonly seen. The high ratio might also be related to the method of urine collection, because we used sterile collecting bag, but not suprapubic aspiration method.