Urinary infection in infants and preschool children. Five-year follow-up
S. R. Siegel, B. Siegel, B. Z. Sokoloff and M. H. Kanter
A group of 1,617 infants and 1,711 preschool children were studied for
symptomatic and asymptomatic urinary infection and followed up for three to
five years. Asymptomatic bacteriuria was found in 1.8% of female infants,
0.5% of male infants, 0.8% of preschool girls, and none of the preschool
boys. Seventeen percent of the infants and 13% of the preschool children
with urinary infection studied roentgenographically had upper tract damage;
46% of the infants and 9% of the preschool children had vesicoureteral
reflux. Infants with normal urinary tracts and urinary infection with or
without reflux tended to have recurrent infection, whereas the kidneys
remained anatomically normal. The infants with high-risk lesions, such as
obstructive uropathy and vesicoureteral junction ectopia and deformity, had
substantial bacteriuria on screening culture.
