Incidence of urinary tract infections and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among pregnant women in Akure, Nigeria

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common medical complications of pregnancy together with anemia and hypertension and it occurs approximately in 5–10% of all pregnancies. This study was carried out to evaluate the incidence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of isolated microbes among pregnant women attending ante natal clinics in Akure, Nigeria. A total of 300 clean midstream urine samples were collected in a clean universal bottle. The urine samples were cultured, Microbact identification system was used to identify the presence of bacteria. Out of the 300 urine samples cultured, 183(61.0%) showed significant growth of urinary pathogens while 117(39.0%) showed lack of growth and insignificant growth of urinary pathogens. Escherichia coli 58(31.7%) was the dominant pathogen isolated, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 32(17.5%), Staphylococcus aureus 27(14.8%), and the least isolated were Citrobacter freudii and Providencia retgerri 2(1.1%) and 2(1.1%), respectively. Gram negative bacteria showed 77.6%, 67.9% and 61.2% susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin, Augmentin and Chloramphenicol, respectively. Resistance against Septrin, Chloramphenicol, Sparfloxacin, Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Gentamycin, Pefloxacin, Trivid and Streptomycin were observed in the range 23.1% to 70.1%. Gram positive uropathogens showed high resistance to Amoxicillin (68.4%) and high susceptibility to the other antibiotics in the range 65.8% to 89.5%. There is need to treat pregnant women with UTIs with proven antibiotics that microbes are susceptible to in order to combat the evolution of resistant pathogens. Routine microbiological analysis and antibiotic sensitivity test of urine samples of pregnant women should be carried out so as to enhance the treatment and management of UTIs.