Epidemiology of urinary tract infections and antibiotics sensitivity among pregnant women at Khartoum North Hospital

A cross sectional study has been conducted at Khartoum north teaching hospital Antenatal Care Clinic between February-June 2010, to investigate epidemiology of UTI and antibiotics resistance among pregnant women. Structured questionnaires were used to gather data from pregnant women. UTI was diagnosed using mid stream urine culture on standard culture mediaOut of 235 pregnant women included, 66 (28.0%) were symptomatic and 169 (71.9%) asymptomatic. the prevalence of bacteriuria among symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant women were (12.1%), and (14.7%) respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.596), and the overall prevalence of UTI was (14.0%). In multivariate analyses, age, gestational age, parity, and history of UTI in index pregnancy were not associated with bacteriuria. Escherichia coli (42.4%) and S. aureus (39.3%) were the commonest isolated bacteria. Four, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2 and 0 out of 14 E. coli isolates, showed resistance to amoxicillin, naladixic acid, nitrofurantoin, ciprofloxacin, co-trimoxazole, amoxicillin/clavulanate and norfloxacin, respectivelyEscherichia coli were the most prevalent causative organisms and showing multi drug resistance pattern, asymptomatic bacteriuria is more prevalent than symptomatic among pregnant women. Urine culture for screening and diagnosis purpose for all pregnant is recommended.Due to several anatomical and hormonal changes, pregnant women are more susceptible to develop Urinary tract infections (UTI) [1]. UTI is a major health problem, it has been reported among 20% of the pregnant women and it is the most common cause of admission in obstetrical wards [2]. Symptomatic and asymptomatic bacteriuria have been reported among 17.9% and 13.0% pregnant women, respectively [3].UTI (perhaps if untreated) can lead to serious obstetric complications, poor maternal and perinatal outcomes e.g. intrauterine growth restriction, pre-eclampsia, caesarean delivery and preterm deliveries [4]. Furthermore, i