Bibliographic Info
GuidelineWHO recommendations on maternal health: guidelines approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee, second edition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025
Year of Publication2023
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
Status
Updated
Context specific recommendation
Only in specific contexts
Certainty of evidence
Moderate
Midstream urine culture is the recommended method for diagnosing asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in pregnancy. In settings where urine culture is not available, on-site midstream urine Gram-staining is recommended over the use of dipstick tests as the method for diagnosing ASB in pregnancy
Notes and Remarks
- 1.This recommendation should be considered alongside Recommendation on ASB treatment (see full guideline for more details)
- 2.The GDG agreed that the higher resource costs associated with Gram stain testing might reduce the feasibility of this method in low-resource settings, in which case, dipstick tests may be used.
- 3.The GDG agreed that ASB is a priority research topic, given its association with preterm birth and the uncertainty around urine testing and treatment in settings with different levels of ASB prevalence. Specifically, studies are needed that compare on-site testing and treatment versus testing plus confirmation of test with treatment on confirmatory culture, to explore health and other relevant outcomes, including acceptability, feasibility and antimicrobial resistance. In addition, better on-site tests need to be developed to improve accuracy and feasibility of testing and to reduce overtreatment of ASB. Research is also needed to determine the prevalence of ASB at which targeted testing and treatment rather than universal testing and treatment might be effective.