Abstract:
Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial profile of urinary tract infection
(UTI) and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among pregnant women attending at antenatal
clinic in Dil Chora Referral Hospital, Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia.
Patients and methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from
February 18, 2015 to March 25, 2015. Clean-catch midstream urine specimens were collected
from 186 pregnant women using sterile containers. Then, culture and antimicrobial susceptibility
tests were performed by standard disk diffusion method. Patient information was obtained using
pretested structured questionnaire. Data were entered and cleaned using EpiData Version 3 and
then exported to Statistical Package for Social Science (Version 16) for further analysis.
Results: The prevalence of significant bacteriuria was 14%. Gram-negative bacteria were
more prevalent (73%). Escherichia coli (34.6%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (19.2%),
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.4%), and Klebsiella spp. (11.5%) were common bacterial isolates,
where most of them were resistant against ampicillin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, trimethoprim–
sulfamethoxazole, and chloramphenicol. Multidrug resistance (resistance in 2 drugs) was
seen in 100% of the isolated bacteria. A majority of the bacterial isolates were sensitive to
ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, erythromycin, and gentamicin.
Conclusion: This study found a number of bacterial isolates with very high resistance to
the commonly prescribed drugs from pregnant women with and without symptoms of UTI.
Therefore, the early routine detection of causative agents of UTI and determining their drug
susceptibility pattern are important for pregnant women to avoid complications in mother and
fetus. Ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, and erythromycin can be used with great care for
the empirical treatment of UTI
