Asymptomatic Bacteriuric Infections and Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates in Pregnant Women in Makurdi, Benue State

Detection of bacteriuria (ASB) can be reliably done through urine culture. To isolate and characterize bacteria associated with ASB, clean catch, mid-stream early morning urine specimens were collected from 438 pregnant women (age range, 17 to 47 years). Bacterial isolates were morphologically and biochemically characterized using standard bacteriological techniques. Isolates of P. aeruginosa were confirmed using API (BioMerieux, USA) rapid tests kits and susceptibility profile of the P. aeruginosa isolates were determined by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Two hundred and seventy-seven (63.2%) urine specimens yielded bacteria growth, and the organisms isolated were Escherichia coli (87, 31.4%), Staphylococcus spp (60, 21.7%), Proteus spp (34, 12.3%), Klebsiella spp (31, 11.2%), Pseudomonas spp (28, 10.1%), Enterobacter spp (22, 7.9%), Streptococcus spp (10, 3.6%), Corynebacteria spp (3, 1.1%) and Serratia spp (2, 0.7%). Prevalence of ASB was highest among those in the 21-30 years age group (116, 69.9%), those in their third trimester (126, 70.0%), and those with more than five pregnancies (29, 69.1%), (ᵡ2 = 0.480; P>0.05). All P. aeruginosa isolates were sensitive to the quinolone group of antibiotics - Ofloxacin (OFX) Perfloxacin (PEF) and Ciprofloxacin (CPX) but resistant to Clarithromycin (CLA) (89.3%), Clindamycin (DA) (96.4%), and Ceftriaxone (CRO) (89.3%). The findings in this study have provided epidemiological information and the high prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria can be responsible for acute pyelonephritis with its negative outcome such as premature delivery, low birth weight infants, preeclampsia, hypertension, renal failure and foetal death. Approximately 25-30% of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy is likely to progress to symptomatic infection, therefore asymptomatic bacteriuria should be treated in pregnancy in order to prevent complications.