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JOURNAL OF TROPICAL PEDIATRICS, vol.49, no.4, pp.228-230, 2003 (SCI-Expanded)
Although the treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) is recommended in certain conditions, and screening for ABU is generally not recommended in healthy children, high prevalence of ABU in infants in a former study from eastern Turkey, led us to conduct a study to discover ABU rates in schoolchildren in the province of Isparta, Turkey. Children (n=10289) from 14 schools and aged 6-14 years participated voluntarily. Two clean-catch midstream urine samples were collected, and screened by microscope and culture for infection. Bacterial agents were identified by Gram's stain. Urological and radiological examinations were suggested to the parents of the children identified with ABU. Five thousand and seventy three participants (49.3 per cent) were girls and 5216 (50.7 per cent) were boys. The median age was 10 (6-14) years. The prevalence of ABU in the total population was 0.37 per cent. The prevalence for ABU was higher in female students [34 (0.67 per cent) vs. 4 (0.08 per cent)], [x 2 (df=1)=24.44, p<0.01]. A decline of ABU from the first to the second screening was observed. In 30 (79 per cent) children with ABU, Escherichia coli was isolated. One year later 27 (71.1 per cent) of the 38 children with ABU were found to be culture negative. The prevalence of ABU in our sample population was consistent with the literature. Lower prevalence of ABU in boys may be linked to the high circumcision frequency in Turkey.