Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Among Pregnant Women in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Abstract

One of the major risk factors that resulted in urinary tract infections during pregnancy is asymptomatic bacteriuria but however, in most developing countries like Nigeria, there is no guideline which recommends routine screening of pregnant women for asymptomatic bacteriuria. Thus, this study was designed with the aim to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Sir Yahaya Memorial Hospital Birnin Kebbi. A total of 222 midstream urine samples were collected after obtaining the ethical approval from ministry of health Kebbi State, Nigeria and also the informed consent from all the pregnant women used for this study. The urine samples were inoculated on blood agar, and CLED agar which was then incubated at 37oC for 24 hours. The bacteria isolated were identified based on colonial morphology, gram staining characteristics and series of biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was determined using disc diffusion method according to CLSI guidelines. Among the isolates obtained the predominant bacteria associated with asymptomatic bacteriuria were coagulase negative staphylococci followed by Staphylococcus aureus with an estimated percentage occurrence of 51.6% and 40.2% respectively. Most of bacteria were isolated among the pregnant women within the age group 20-29 years (68.9%), followed by age range 30-39 years with 54(30%). The current study also revealed that, the cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria occur more predominantly in second trimester and most of the isolates were susceptible ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole. In conclusion, coagulase negative staphylococci were most predominant bacteria isolated and asymptomatic bacteriuria occurred more frequently among age group 20-29, mostly in second trimester. Ciprofloxacin remain a useful antibiotic in the treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in this location.