Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria among the Pregnant Women at Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital, Tirupati, Andhrapradesh, India – A Retrospective Study

Dr. Chandrakala Penagadam^1*, Dr. B. Kailasanatha reddy², Dr. MadhusudanaPulaganti^3
1Assistant Professor, Dept of Microbiology, S.V. Medical College, Tirupati, India-517507
²Professor & HOD, Dept of Microbiology, S.V. Medical College, Tirupati, India-517507
³BIF, Dept of Biochemistry, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India-515003

Abstract
Aim: This retrospective study aims to demonstrate the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria by aerobic bacterial uropathogens among the pregnant women and to determine their susceptibility to various antimicrobial agents. Materials and Methods: A Retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Sri Venkateswara Medical College, over a period of 12 months from January 2013 to December 2013. We included all pregnant women who underwent bacteriologic examination of 560 urine samples in the Department of Microbiology, Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupati. With universal safety precautions, the urine specimens were processed. Identification was done by standard protocols. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by Kirby Bauer’s Disk Diffusion method and interpreted as per CLSI guidelines. Results: The isolates in the samples were Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosae and Proteus species. Escherichia coli occurred most frequently (46.67%) while Proteus Species had the lowest frequency of occurrence (10.37%) in the samples. The infection was most prevalent among the women aged between 21 – 30 years (63.25%) and lowest among those between 41 – 50 years of age (1.91%). Imipenem, Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, Amikacin and Ceftriaxone were the antibiotics with the highest activity against E. coli. The susceptibility among Staphylococcus aureus is highest with Imipenem and Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. With regard to Proteus spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosae the highest activity was observed with Imipenem. Conclusion: Pregnancy promotes the progression of asymptomatic to symptomatic bacteriuria with its consequences such as pyelonephritis, urinary tract infections and increased foetal mortality, therefore regular urine analysis of all pregnant women by certified health authorities is recommended.