Prevalence of Group b Streptococcus, Its Associated Factors and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Arbaminch Hospital, South Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Group B Streptococcus colonization of the gastrointestinal and genital tracts of pregnant women usually remains asymptomatic; even if it is the critical determinant of infection in neonates and young infants. It causes early and late onset of invasive Group B Streptococcus (GBS) disease manifesting as septicemia, meningitis and pneumonia. Now it is recognized as an important cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world including Ethiopia where the magnitude of the problem has been little studied. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of GBS colonization, to identify associated risk factors and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of GBS isolates among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Arbaminch General Hospital, Arbaminch, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from March - July, 2016 among 281 pregnant women on their antenatal care (ANC) visit at Arbaminch General Hospital (AGH). Consented participants’ information was collected using structured questionnaire. Recto-vaginal swab samples were collected by consecutive sampling technique and inoculated directly onto 5% sheep blood agar (SBA) for isolation of GBS. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed according to the clinical and laboratory standard institute (CLSI) guideline, 2014 by disk diffusion method. Data was coded and entered into EPidata version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 21.0. Bivariate and Multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to ascertain the association between explanatory and outcome variable considering p-value <0.05. Result: The colonization rate of GBS among pregnant mothers was 8.5%. The overall recto-vaginal GBS colonization in this study was not significantly associated with any of socio-demographic and obstetric factors. All of the GBS isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin and vancomycin. Resistance to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, clindamycin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol and gentamycin was found to be 37.5%, 29.2%, 29.2%, 20.8%, 8.3%, and 4.2%, respectively. From a total of twenty four GBS isolates, two showed multidrug resistance. Conclusion and recommendation: This study found that GBS colonization rate was rationally high and most isolates were resistant to the commonly used antibiotics.