Prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and its antibacterial susceptibility pattern among pregnant women

Background and Aim: The condition of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy is common, and up to 40% of women developing pyelonephritis in pregnancy may suffer low birth weight and membrane’s premature rupture. The present study intended to investigate the incidence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and its antibacterial susceptibility pattern among pregnant women. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 183 pregnant women attending Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad from December 2021 to May 2022. Pregnant women with asymptomatic bacteriuria attended the ANC services and willing to provide written consent were enrolled. Standard bacteriological procedures were followed for bacterial isolates identification using biochemical tests, colony characteristics, and Gram-staining. Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion technique was used for Antimicrobial susceptibility test on Muller-Hinton agar medium and Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute guidelines was used for interpretation of zone of inhibition diameter. Midstream urine samples were collected from each study participant and standard microbiological methods to culture urine, identify the pathogen, and conduct sensitivity tests. Data analysis was done in SPSS version 27. Results: The prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria was 14.2% (n=26) among pregnant women.&nbsp