Prevalence of asymptomatic Bacteriuria among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Plateau State Specialist Hospital, Jos, Nigeria

Author(s): Jim M. Banda, Deborah Cletus, Zakka Sheyin, Surajudeen A. Junaid, Baba John, Sani SD Mohammed, James G. Damen

Abstract

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), common occurrence in pregnancy usually results in maternal and fetal complications. Bacterial infection is often missed in pregnancy because urine microscopy, culture and sensitivity is not part of the approved laboratory tests for women attending antenatal clinic (ANC)s in Nigeria. This study was a cross-sectional, laboratory-based study involving 136 first-, second-, and third trimester, consecutive pregnant women attending ANC at the Plateau State Specialist Hospital Jos, who gave informed consent and submitted urine samples for the determination of prevalence of ASB using Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient (CLED) agar by the standard loop technique and microscopy. Demographic data was obtained by administering structured questionnaire to the study participants. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 21and p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Out of 136 urine samples examined 10.3% were positive for ASB. Of the total ASB isolates, 71.4% was Escherichia coli, the most prevalent uropathogen, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (14.3%) while others were 14.2%. Age group 24-28 years had the highest prevalence 5.1% followed by 19-23 years age group with 2.2%. The lowest prevalence was age groups 29-33 and 34-50 years with prevalence of 1.5% each. In respect to trimesters, second and third trimester recorded the highest with 4.4% each while the first trimester had 1.5%. Based on the antibiogram, Ciprofloxacin and Sparfloxacin were found to be most effective antibiotics against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This study revealed high prevalence of ASB among antenatal women in the population studied. Further study with larger sample size covering the entire state is advocated to discover the possibility of making bacterial microscopy, culture and sensitivity part of antenatal care for the purpose of early diagnosis and proper management of pregnant wo