Phenotypic diversity of bacteria implicated in urinary tract infections among pregnant women in Lafia, Nigeria

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) has become the most common bacterial infection in humans, both in the community and hospital settings. This study is a hospital-based surveillance conducted in Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia, Nigeria. The aim was to assess the prevalence, spectrum and antimicrobial susceptibility of UTI among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in the hospital. A total of 200 clean midstream urine samples were collected and a general urine microscopic examination and culture were carried out, demographic and other information were captured using a well-structured questionnaire. Susceptibility assay using antibiotic panels were carried out against the isolated organisms using disc diffusion method. The bacteriologic agents of UTI isolated from the patients showed that Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent (29.0%) followed by Escherichia coli (26.6%), Klebsiella pneumonia (20%), Proteus mirabilis (12.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.7%) and Serratia marcescens (0.7%), respectively. Comparing the sensitivity, Perfloxacin and Ciprofloxacin had the highest sensitivity for both Gram negative (81.6%) and Gram positive (81.6%) isolates, respectively, while Amoxicillin had 22.6% for Gram negative, and Zinnacef 23.7% for Gram positive. This data show a significant difference (p≤0.05) in the effectiveness of the antibiotics tested against the incriminated bacteria and more concerning is the pattern of antimicrobial sensitivity which possess a great threat to treatment of these infections in pregnant women. Key words: Urinary tract infection (UTI), antimicrobial susceptibility test, Nigeria.