Prevalence of urinary tract infection among pregnant women at Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania

• Published in: Tanzania journal of health research Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 154 - 159
• Main Authors: Masinde, A, Gumodoka, B, Kilonzo, A, Mshana, S.E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tanzania Health User's Trust Fund (HRUTF) 01-07-2009
• Subjects: Adult; Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use; Bacteriuria - diagnosis; Bacteriuria - epidemiology; Bacteriuria - microbiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Female; Gram-Negative Bacteria - drug effects; Gram-Negative Bacteria - isolation & purification; Humans; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - diagnosis; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - epidemiology; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - microbiology; Pregnancy Trimester, Third; Prevalence; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tanzania - epidemiology; Urinary tract infection, pregnancy, bacteriuria, Escherichia coli, Tanzania; Urinary Tract Infections - epidemiology; Urinary Tract Infections - etiology; Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology; Urine - microbiology; Young Adult; Tanzania
• ISSN: 1821-6404
• DOI: 10.4314/thrb.v11i3.47704

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are the most common bacterial infections
during pregnancy and these infections. Untreated UTI can be associated
with serious obstetric complications. This cross-sectional study was
carried out to determine the prevalence of UTI among symptomatic and
asymptomatic pregnant women attending Bugando Medical centre (BMC) in
Mwanza, Tanzania. A total of 247 pregnant women were enrolled, of these
78 (31.5%) were symptomatic and 169 (68.4%) asymptomatic. UTI was
diagnosed using mid stream urine (MSU) culture on standard culture
media and urinalysis was done using rapid dip stick. The prevalence of
bacteriuria among symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant women were
17.9% and 13.0% respectively, with no significant difference between
the two groups (P= 0.307). Using univariate analysis there was no
association of parity (P=0.825), gestational age (P=0.173), education
(P=0.615), age (P=0.211) and marital status (P=0.949) with bacteriuria.
The sensitivity and specificity of urine dipstick was 38.9% and 86.7%
respectively. Escherichia coli (47.2%) and Enterococcus spp (22.2%)
were the most commonly recovered pathogens. The rate of resistance of
Escherichia coli to ampicillin, tetracycline,
sulfamethaxazole/trimethoprim, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin,
nitrofurantoin, ceftriaxone, and imipenem were 53%, 58.8%, 64.7%, 5.9%,
11.8%, 5.9%, 29.4% and 0%, respectively. In conclusion, asymptomatic
bacteriuria among pregnant women is prevalent in our setting and
majority of Escherichia coli are resistant to ampicillin, tetracycline,
SXT and ceftriaxone. Due to low sensitivity of rapid dip stick, routine
urine culture and susceptibility testing is recommended to all pregnant
women at booking.