Abstract

Background: Pregnancy-related asymptomatic bacteriuria remains a potential health danger to women of reproductive age because of the possible emergence of urinary tract infections during pregnancy. Surveillance will generate data for effective intervention to avert the devastating health impact of urinary tract infection in pregnancy, especially in a resource-limited setting.                              Objective: This study was designed to assess pregnancy-related asymptomatic bacteriuria as potential pathogens for urinary tract infections. at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, Bushenyi, Uganda.                                                                        Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 362 aseptically collected midstream urine specimens of pregnant mothers were analyzed using standard bacteriological methods for significant bacteria in urine, and antibacterial sensitivity of isolates recovered from mid-stream urine samples of consenting participants. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain sociodemographic, clinical, and obstetric data. Data were analyzed descriptively using STATA 14.2.                                                                                                                                Results: The overall prevalence of ASB among the studied pregnant women attending ANC clinic at KIU-TH was 15.5% and out of this 15.5% prevalence, 51.8% were E.coli, 19.6% were Staph aureus 17.9% were Klebsiella, 8.9% were Pseudomonas while 1.8% were Proteus species). Most of the isolates were sensitive to Amikacin, Imipenem, Gentamicin, and Levofloxacin. The factors that were significantly associated with ASB were gravidity (Gravida 1 or prime gravidas) and WOA of the 1st trimester and 3rd trimester. Prevalence of ASB varied directly with gravidity (p-value=0.015, OR = 2.1, 95% CI =1.15-3.93). Thus pregnant women with gestation of 1-12 weeks were more likely to develop ASB compared to those of 13-28 weeks of pregnancy (OR=4.0, 95% CI=1.64-9.83).                              Conclusions The study found that 15.5% of pregnant women attending ANC clinic at KIU-TH had asymptomatic bacteriuria mostly during the 1st or 3rd trimester and 51.8% of the bacteria were Escherichia coli followed by 19.6% Staphylococcus and other enteric bacteria.