Diagnostic accuracy of rapid urine dipstick test to predict urinary tract infection among pregnant women in Felege Hiwot Referral Gospital, Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia (BMC Research Notes)

Background: Untreated bacteriuria during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with low birth-weight and premature delivery. Therefore, routine screening for bacteriuria is advocated. The decision about how to screen pregnant women for bacteriuria has always been a balance between the cost of screening versus the sensitivity and specificity. This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the rapid dipstick test to predict urinary tract infection in pregnancy against the gold standard urine culture.MethodA total of 367 mid stream urine samples were collected, inoculated on MacConkey, Manitol salt agar (MSA) and blood agar and incubated aerobically at 37[degree sign]C for overnight. Specimens were classified as `positive` for urinary tract infection (UTI) if the growth of the pathogen(s) was at a count >= 105 colony-forming units per milliliter (cfu/mL) of urine and classified as `negative` with growth of