Prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant women in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

To determine the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy, midstream urine samples from 505 pregnant women in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, were screened using urine culture and urinalysis. Urine cultures showed heavy growth (> or = 10(5) colony forming units/mL) in 4.8% (24/505) of the samples; 16/24 (66.7%) of these isolates were Escherichia coli. Microscopic examination had the highest sensitivity (67%), while nitrite dipstick testing showed the highest specificity and positive predictive value (99% and 57% respectively). Antibiotic sensitivity tests carried out on the positive culture samples showed high sensitivity to gentamicin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and fosfomycin.