Distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial pathogens causing urinary tract infection in pregnant women in Shiraz, Southwest Iran

Abstract

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a serious health problem that occur during pregnancy, which can lead to serious complications. This study aimed to assess the antibacterial profile of pregnant women with urinary tract infections and analyze the antibiotic sensitivity pattern for an effective treatment. A total of 2245 midstream urine samples from pregnant women referring to Zeynabieh hospital, Shiraz, Iran, suspected of UTI were cultured, using standard urine culture procedures. All positive cultures were tested further to identify isolates, using conventional methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by the disk diffusion method. Only 9.8% (221 out of 2245) of samples were positive. Gram negative bacteria (89.5%) was found in high prevalence in comparison to Gram positive (10.5%). According to our results, Escherichia coli was the most common etiological agent of UTI (78.3%), followed by Enterobacter spp. (14, 5.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (14, 6.3%), Klebsiella spp. (3.2%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (9, 4.07%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4, 1.8%) and Acintobacter spp. (2, 0.09%). Majority of Gram-negative bacteria isolates were resistant to ampicillin (99.4%), co-trimoxazole (74.2%) and oxacilin (60.1%) while 69.5% of the Gram positive isolates were resistance to ampicillin. Routine urine culture test should be performed for all antenatal women to identify any unsuspecting infection, and every positive case should be treated with appropriate antibiotic therapy to provide physicians with up to date information in order to prevent any pregnancy related complication.