Bacteriuria
Bacteriuria is the presence of bacteria in urine. Bacteriuria accompanied by symptoms is a urinary tract infection while that without is known as asymptomatic bacteriuria. Diagnosis is by urinalysis or urine culture. Escherichia coli is the most common bacterium found. People without symptoms should generally not be tested for the condition. Differential diagnosis include contamination.
| Bacteriuria | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Bacteruria |
| Multiple rod-shaped bacteria shown between the larger white blood cells at urinary microscopy from a person with urinary tract infection. | |
| Specialty | Emergency medicine, infectious disease |
| Types | Asymptomatic, symptomatic |
| Diagnostic method | Urinalysis, urine culture |
| Differential diagnosis | Contamination |
| Treatment | Based on symptoms or risk factors |
| Frequency | Asymptomatic: 3% (middle aged women), up to 50% (women in nursing homes) Symptomatic: up to 10% of women a year |
If symptoms are present, treatment is generally with antibiotics. Bacteriuria without symptoms generally does not require treatment. Exceptions may include pregnant women, those who have had a recent kidney transplant, young children with significant vesicoureteral reflux, and those undergoing surgery of the urinary tract.
Bacteriuria without symptoms is present in about 3% of otherwise healthy middle aged women. In nursing homes rates are as high as 50% among women and 40% in men. In those with a long term indwelling urinary catheter rates are 100%. Up to 10% of women have a urinary tract infection in a given year and half of all women have at least one infection at some point in their lives. There is an increased risk of asymptomatic or symptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy due to physiological changes that occur in a pregnant women which promotes unwanted pathogen growth in the urinary tract.