“BACTERIOLOGICAL PROFILE AND ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY IN UTI PATIENT VISITING ANTENATAL CLINIC AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL”

Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections in humans. Approximately, 150 million UTIs occur every year worldwide, resulting in more than 6 billion US dollars in direct healthcare costs. Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains is a serious problem and greatest challenge in public health care. Aim and Objective: To determine the bacteriological profile along with the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates in UTI patients visiting antenatal clinic at tertiary care hospital. Material and Methods: This was a Observational Cross sectional study carried out in the Department of Microbiology at Central Laboratory, Sharda Hospital. The study was conducted on all the urine samples received in bacteriology laboratory of Sharda Hospital. A total of 264 urine sample (including IPD and OPD) were included. More than 100 Colony Forming Units (CFUs) in a pure culture was seemed noteworthy and subjected to biochemical tests and antibiotic susceptibility analysis. The samples were processed according to the biochemicals and the antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed according to the CLSI guidelines 2024. Results: In the present study 264 urine samples with significant bacterial colony count i.e. 105 CFU/ml, 172(65.15%) showed growth of Gram-negative bacilli whereas 92(34.84%) were Gram-positive cocci. Out of a total of 264 urine samples, the majority of patients had Symptomatic bacteriuria which was 229 (86.74%) while 35 (13.26%) had asymptomatic bacteriuria. The age-wise distribution of the bacterial isolates among different pregnancy age groups shows that the maximum number of isolates were received from age group 21-30 with GNB (63.3%) and GPC (36.7%). It was subsequently followed by 31-40yrs age group where GNB (62.01%) and GPC (37.69%) distributed and <20 where GNB n=19 and GPC n=1. E. coli was found to be highly sensitive for Nitrofurantoin (92.10%) followed by Imipenem (69.0%) and Meropenem (68.3%) whereas, Ampicillin was found least sensitive (11.1%) agent among all the antibiotics tested. Carbapenems showed the highest sensitivity (100.00%) respectively. Conclusion: There is a critical need for enhanced public health initiatives focusing on sanitation, hydration, and hygiene, alongside holistic clinical management strategies that address both the infection and its broader health impacts. Future research should aim at developing innovative prevention and treatment strategies, with a particular focus on high-risk groups such as pregnant women, to mitigate the burden of UTIs in India.