الفهرس 
AcknowledgmentOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is the most common urinary tract infection encountered during pregnancy. Physiologic and mechanical changes of pregnancy contribute to increased pathogenicity of bacteriuria in the gravid state. The prevalence of ASB varies considerably among different population groups. This variation can be explained by risk factors such as age, parity, Diabetes mellitus (D.M), socioeconomic status or history of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Previous works have established the association of ASB with the development of symptomatic infections, including pyelonephritis, pre-eclampsia, anaemia and amnionitis. Fetal complications may be devastating, including prematurity, low birth weight, pyelonephritis, sepsis and pneumonia. The definitive diagnosis of ASB is based on the isolation of significant numbers of bacteria (?105CFU/ml urine) on urine culture. This when performed by the conventional culture methods and biochemical tests takes as long as 72 hours. The accuracy of faster screening methods has been evaluated in many studies. The increased number of false negatives and relatively poor predictive value of a positive test make the faster methods less useful. The use of chromogenic substrates incorporated in CHROMagar Orientation for urine examination is described. This medium allows direct detection, enumeration and identification of organisms on the primary isolation plate by means of distinct bacterial colony color and morphology. The present study aimed at: 1. Estimating the prevalence of ASB among pregnant women, as well as identifying and estimating the prevalence of different bacteria causing ASB in the studied population. 2. Studying the validity of microscopic examination of urine as a rapid screening test, and evaluating the new chromogenic medium for primary isolation, enumeration and presumptive identification of urinary tract pathogens. The study involved 400 pregnant women having no criteria of symptomatic UTI, attending the health insurance antenatal clinic in Alexandria. A full relevant information sheet was fulfilled for each woman. Clean-catch mid stream urine samples were obtained from all the studied population. All urine samples were subjected to direct microscopic examination of Gram-stained smears, and quantitative and qualitative culture on blood agar, CHROMagar Orientation and MacConkey’s agar. Overnight incubation at 37°C under aerobic conditions was followed by full identification of isolates. Results of the study revealed that: • Significant bacteriuria was found in 36.5 of the studied specimens.