Background: Asymptomatic bacteriuria is identified only when significant number of bacteria is demonstrated in urine. As bacterial culture takes at least 3 to 4 days, early diagnosis is a problem. Hence a reliable and cost effective screening test for bacteriuria is of great value. The aim of the study was conducted to know the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Dip slide test.Methods: This study was conducted at Government Maternity Hospital - Upgraded institute for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nayapool, Hyderabad between May 2004 and October 2004. All women who attended the antenatal clinics of this hospital were taken as study group. A total of 300 urine specimens were taken and urine culture was done by both standard and also Dip slide method. The results were compared.Results: The main objective of this study was to compare the results of, traditional culture method and Dip slide method for screening bacteriuria. The incidence of asymptomatic bacteriuria was found to be 6.3%. E coli were the commonest organism, which was isolated in 63.16% of cases. All the positive culture in standard method also showed pure growth in in Dip slide method, with, a colony count of >10 with more than 200 colonies. The results were found to be identical in both methods.Conclusions: Dip slide method of culture is simple to use, accurate, inexpensive & reliable method of screening bacteriuria during pregnancy and it can be strongly recommended for screening pregnant women in antenatal clinics, by including it as a routine part of antenatal care
