Prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in school going children in Pokhara valley.

OBJECTIVES There were mainly two objectives of the study. One was to detect bacteriuria in school going children in Pokhara valley and the other was to identify the causative organisms in various age groups in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was carried out in the Microbiology laboratory of The School of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Simalchaur, Pokhara University, Nepal. A total of 502 urine samples of 5 to 13 years children from different schools of Pokhara valley were screened to see asymptomatic bacteriuria during January 2005 to June 2005. A sterile wide mouth container was given to each student to collect mid-stream urine samples. All the urine samples were transported to the Microbiology laboratory within half an hour to one hour. The samples were processed for microscopical examination to observe for turbidity and the presence of protein and sugar by dipstick method, microscopical examination to see pus cells, RBCs, epithelial cells, casts and crystals, culture of urine samples on Blood agar and MacConkey agar to identify the potential pathogens. The antibiotic sensitivity test was performed for those bacteria which were grown on culture. The colony count was evaluated and organisms were identified by biochemical tests. RESULT Out of 502 samples, 7(1.39%) samples grew the bacterial pathogens that are responsible to cause urinary tract infection. Among them Escherichia coli 4(57.14%) was the predominant bacterial pathogen. CONCLUSION Study of asymptomatic bacteriuria is important as found in the present study in which Escherichia coli was the most frequently incriminated as the causative agents.