Abstract

Background: Analysis of urine is regarded as the foremost medical test heralding the beginning of laboratory medicine. The aim of this study was to show the utility of simple urinalysis in the detection of bacteria in the urine of healthy subjects, using nitrites assay and leucocyte esterase in the detection of bacteriuria among university students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among students in a federal tertiary educational institution, using the random sampling technique. Results: There was a total of 456 respondents with 351 (76.97%) females and 105 males (23.03%). Majority of respondents were within the age ranges of 20-24 years (231=50.66%) and 25-29 years (126=27.63%). The urine samples of 90 (19.7%) respondents were nitrite positive, while the leucocyte esterase test was positive in 60 (13.2%) respondents. The sensitivity of urine nitrite test was 30.9%, while the specificity was 86.6%. The sensitivity of leucocyte esterase test was 18.2%, while the specificity was 89.7%. Conclusion: The sensitivity of urine nitrite test was higher than that of leucocyte esterase test, and hence has higher value in detecting the presence of urinary tract infection than leucocyte esterase test, although the latter demonstrated relatively higher specificity.