Asymptomatic bacteriuria: screening and prevalence among pregnant women attending clinic at Muhimbili National Hospital: A cross sectional study.

Background: Prevalence of Asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy ranges from 2.0% to 23.9% and if not attended about 20% to 40% of these will develop symptomatic disease. None of various screening methods have been found to have satisfactory sensitivity and specificity. Objective: To determine the reliability of nitrite reductase and leucocyte esterase methods in screening for ABU in pregnant women. Settings: Muhimbili National Hospital - Antenatal clinic Study design: Cross sectional Population: Pregnant women attending antenatal clinic. Methods: Systematic sampling was used and morning unne samples were screened using Dipstick methods. Bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility was done. Analysis was done using EPI info version six and specificity and sensitivity were calculated. Results: The prevalence of ABU was 23.0 %. Both nitrite reductase and leucocyte esterase tests had poor sensitivity ranging from 10.5% to 65.8%. Klebsiella spp and E.coli were the commonest microorganisms comprising 44.8% and 23.2% respectively. Conclusion: ABU represents a considerable public health problem among pregnant women attending MNH-ANC and leucocyte esterase and nitrite reductase tests are not ideal for screening Recommendation: There is a need to look for other screening tests