Background: urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infection diseases of humans, with Escherichia coli being responsible for more than 80% of all cases. Asymptomatic bacetriuria (ASB) occurs when bacteria colonize the urinary tract without causing clinical symptoms and can affect both catheterized patients (catheter associated ASB (CA-ASB) and non-catheterized patients. Objectives: to determine the prevalence of abnormal urinary findings by screening children in I.C.U by dipstick test for asymptomatic urinary abnormalities. Patients and Methods: this cross sectional study was carried out on 60 children. Age of the children ranged from 2 to 6 years old. From Nov 2012 to March 2013, ther were classified into 2 groups: 30 cases were catheterized and 30 cases were non-catheterized. Results: urine culture and dipstick were done for both catheterized and non-catheterized children.
Conclusion: there are several rapid and simple tests for the detection of asyptomatic bacteriuria in the catheterized and non-catheterized children presented with acute illness in I.C.U. these include: Leukocyte esterase, nitrite test, catalase, enhanced urine analysis and Gram stain. Single screening test has high specificity but combinations of three screening tests have high sensitivity.