Asymptomatic Bacteriuria — Important or Not?

The introduction of quantitative urine cultures in the mid-1950s coincided with the introduction and widespread use of antimicrobial drugs. The first studies of quantitative urine bacteriology, in fact, included a diverse group of asymptomatic patients — medical outpatients, patients with diabetes, pregnant women, women with cystoceles, and patients with indwelling catheters.1 Widespread application of a standardized microbiologic definition of asymptomatic urinary infection (≥105 colony-forming units of an organism per milliliter in two consecutive urine specimens) revealed that positive urine cultures were common in the absence of symptoms. This was at a time when urinary infection was considered to be an . . .