Asymptomatic bacteriuria in girl entrants to Dundee primary schools

During the statutory medical examination on entrance to primary school 943 5-year-old girls were screened for asymptomatic bacteriuria. A prevalence of 2.1% was found. None of the 20 children with asymptomatic bacteriuria was recognized by the parents as having a urinary infection, though 14 of them had symptoms of lower urinary tract infection. In 16 of the children with bacteriuria either the intravenous pyelogram or the micturating cystogram was abnormal. In 12 the height and weight were below the 25th percentile, and in this group the most severe radiological changes were found.Though the significance of asymptomatic bacteriuria is unknown, these results confirm that in this age group it is often associated with a urinary tract abnormality.