ABSTRACT

The study was aimed at assessing asymptomatic bacteriuria among female students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State. Randomly sampled clean catch midstream urine specimens were collected from 110 apparently healthy asymptomatic undergraduate female students of MOUAU between ages of 16 to 30 years. The urine specimen was cultured on Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient Agar (CLED), which is the gold standard for detecting asymptomatic bacteriuria and incubated overnight at 37°C. This reveals that out of the 110 urine specimen culture, forty two (42) urine specimen showed Scanty, whitish circular growth on the media, two (2) urine specimen showed Yellowish circular growth, fourteen (14) urine specimen showed Large circular, yellowish cluster growth, twelve (12) urine specimen showed Moderate growth circular, yellowish, two (2) urine specimen showed Whitish, circular, crossed straight and forty six (46) urine specimen showed no sign of growth on the culture media.The results showed that the total prevalence rate of bacteriuria was Coagulase Negative Staphylocccus 21(32.82%) was most common uropathogen isolated followed by Escherichia coli 5(7.81%), Staphylococcus aurues 15(23.43%), Proteus species 2(3.12%), Enterococcus spp 10(15.62%), Group B Streptococcus 2(3.12%), Citrobacter spp 5(7.81%), and Kiebsiella spp 3(4.68%) respectively while Pseudonionas spp 1(1.56%) had the lowest. Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus was the most common bacteria for asymptomatic bacteriuria in female university undergraduates in this study. The incidence of the bacteriuria in a healthy population is of significant public health concern as they may be incubating pathogenic microorganism which may cause disease they may be incubating pathogenic Microorganism which may cause disease when they interact with the opposite sex. Thus, education and awareness on the need for proper personal hygiene should be encouraged.