Prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection among Pregnant Women in Kano, Northern Nigeria

The objective of the study is to determine the prevalence of Urinary tract infection and organisms associated with the infection among pregnant women attending ante-natal at maternity ward of Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano, Nigeria. A total of 145 urine samples of pregnant women were collected for period of 6 month from March, 2017 to August, 2017. Each sample was streaked using a sterilized platinum wire loop onto the surface of freshly prepared Cysteine-Lactose Deficient (CLED) agar, MacConkey and Nutrient agar plates for bacterial isolation. Isolates were subjected to Gram staining, indole, citrate utilization, catalase, urease, methylred, voges Proskauer and coagulase test for identification. The results showed that out of the total of 145 subjects, 23 subjects were diagnosed with urinary tract infection which accounted for 15.8% of the pregnant women. Prevalence of UTI among pregnant women showed that higher incidence found among subjects of age category 26 – 30 years. On the basis of socio-economic status, most of the UTI patients were unemployed. Rural dwellers occupy large percentage of UTI patients among the study subjects. The educational level of the subject showed higher prevalence among subjects without formal education. Prevalence of UTI among pregnant women based on the age of gestation showed higher incidence among subjects in 3rd trimester. The finding showed Escherichia coli are the most prevalent organism associated with UTI followed by Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus sp while the least prevalent organisms is Staphylococcus epidermidis. It is concluded that urinary tract infection is one of the common medical complications of pregnancy.

Keywords: Urinary tract infection, bacteria, prevalence, pregnant women.