Incidence Rate of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Between Libyan International Medical School Female and Male Students
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Asymptomatic bacteriuria is the presence of bacteria in a urine culture despite the patient not exhibiting any signs or symptoms. Urinary tract infections in general are very common. Nearly 1 in every 2 women and one in every 20 men get this infection in their lifetime. The prevalence of UTI is far more common in women than in men due to anatomical differences in urethra and its structure. Female urethras are shorter and closer to the anal region while men urethra are longer, providing better protection. This study was done to test the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among students of Libyan International University. The study included 24 students. 12 female and 12 male. From the male patients, only 3 out of 12 had bacterial growth in contrast to 10 out of twelve for females. In other words, 16.7% of the sample had asymptomatic bacteriuria and they were female only. Thus this study further reinforced that asymptomatic bacteriuria, and urinary tract infections in general, are indeed more prevalent in females than in males, especially during adolescence and childbearing years.