Doctors For Urinary Tract Infection in Mumbai Urinary Tract Infection in Pregnant Women Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common in pregnant women. UTI is defined either as a infection of lower urinary tract ( acute cystitis ) or upper tract involving kidney ( acute pyelonephritis ). The pregnant women also develop asymptomatic bacterial infection of the urine. E.coli is the predominant bacteria found in both asymptomatic and symptomatic urine infection in pregnant women. The pregnant women frequently develop recurrent infection and severe involvement of the kidneys. The diagnosis of asymptomatic urine infection is made by finding high – level bacterial growth on urine culture in the absence of symptoms consistent with UTI. All pregnant women should be screened at least once in early pregnancy for asymptomatic urine infection and the report should be discussed only with a specialist. For asymptomatic urine infection, two consecutive voided urine specimens should show same bacterial strain in quantitative counts of > 10 5 colony forming units (cfu)/ml. Asymptomatic urine infection during pregnancy increases the risk of kidney infection and has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth infants. Short course antibiotic therapy is usually effective in eradicating asymptomatic urine infection of pregnancy. Pregnant women with cystitis present with urinary frequency and urgency. The presence of fever and chills, flank pain should raise suspicion for kidney infection. They should obtain prompt guidance from an infection disease specialist for proper care and treatment. They should be under the watchful eyes of a specialist during the further course of their pregnancy.