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ABSTRACT
Vaginal infections caused by bacterial uropathogens are a leading risk factor during pregnancy. This study aims at evaluating the prevalence of bacteria uropathogens associated with pregnant women in two hospitals in Benin City, Edo State and determining the sensitivity patterns of these pathogens to antibiotics. A total of Sixty (60) urine samples were collected from pregnant women attending ante-natal clinic at Stella Obasanjo hospital (30 samples) and Faith Mediplex hospital (30 samples) both in Benin City, Edo State. The heterotrophic and coliform counts, biochemical tests and antibiogram pattern of the bacterial isolates associated with the urine samples were evaluated using standard analytical methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 16s RNA sequencing were used in identification of the bacterial isolates. The results of the bacteriological analysis of the respective fresh urine revealed that the urine had varying numbers of bacterial bio-load. Although the difference between the mean heterotrophic bacterial counts recovered on nutrient agar medium for the two hospitals was statistically insignificant (P > 0.05), the differences between the other bacterial counts enumerated on blood agar, eosin methylene blue agar and CLED differential agar was statistically significant (P < 0.05) Amongst the urine sourced bacterial isolates, E. coli had the highest percentage frequency of occurrence (31%) while the other isolated cultures had varied percentage frequency of isolation with Citrobacter sp and Bacillus sp having the least occurrence (8%). All the bacterial strains recovered from the urine samples were resistant to augumentin, cloxacillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate and cefixime. Ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and gentamicin were the most effective antibiotics against the urine derived isolates as 92.3%, 88.4% and 61.5% of the tested isolates exhibited sensitivity towards the drugs respectively. The antibiotics erythromycin, ceftazidime and cefuroxime all had equal number of susceptible isolates (7.6%). Amongst the Urine sourced cultures, Staphylococcus sp had the lowest Multi Antibiotic Resistant (MAR) index (0.50) while E.coli and Klebsiella sp all had maximal MAR value (0.83). Amongst the 10 urine derived isolates, 16S rRNA sequencing of the organisms detected the presence of the following organisms in the urine samples analysed: Citrobacter koseri, Escherichia coli, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Providencia vermicola and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The prevalence rates (43%) and multidrug profile (100%) of the bacteria isolates observed in this study is of significant to public health concern which could result in the dissemination of resistant genes within bacterial populations thereby causing more harm to humans.
