Study setting, design and period
A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 Feb 2019 to 30 May 2019 in EAH, Hargeisa, Somaliland. The hospital is located in Maroodi Jeex Region, the capital city of Somaliland known as Hargeisa. EAH is found in the southern part of Hargeisa. Based on census conducted in 2006, Hargeisa had a total population of 1.5 million [3]. The city had one referral Hospital, two general Hospitals, seven health care centers and five private Hospitals and other several private clinics. The AEH is one of the largest maternity private hospitals in the city which provides health services for the community especially, maternal and child health services, for patients from all parts of Somaliland and other neighborhood regions such as Puntland and Southern Somalia. Edna Hospital was founded by the famous lady in the context of Somalia and the world as well.
Population, sample size and sampling technique
a total of 384 study participants were included in the study. The study population was pregnant women attending ANC at Edna Adan Hospital during the study period. Convenient sampling technique was used to enroll consecutive pregnant women attending antenatal care in the hospital during the study period who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Pregnant women with or without symptoms of urinary tract infection who were willing to participate in the study were included. Those who took antibiotics two weeks before the time of data collection period were excluded from the study.
Data collection procedures
Structured questionnaire that has been translated into the local language was used to collect demographic characteristics of the study participants and related clinical data. Pregnant women were screened for UTI clinically by health practitioners in charge of attending them. In addition, the types of isolated bacterial uropathogens and the ESBL producing bacteria from urine culture with their respect antimicrobial susceptibility profile were determined as per standard bacteriological protocol.
Urine sample collection and handling
After appropriate instruction pregnant women were given pre-labeled leak proof, wide mouth, and sterile, screw-capped plastic container to collect 5–10 mL mid-stream urine (MSU) specimen. Then all samples were immediately transported to the bacteriology department at EAH for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Using calibrated wire loop samples were inoculated in to Cystine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient medium (CLED). Cultures were incubated overnight in aerobic atmosphere at 37 °C for 24 hours. Colonies were counted to check the presence of significant growth. Colony counts yielding bacterial growth of ≥ 105 CFU/ml of urine was regarded as significant bacteriuria (SBU); but specimens that produced < 105CFU/ml were considered insignificant [4].
Colonies from CLED were then sub cultured into MacConkey and blood agar plates, then incubated at 37 °C for 24 hours. Identification of bacterial species was done using colony characteristics, gram staining and panel of biochemical tests following the standard procedure. The gram negative bacteria were identified by indole, H2S production in KIA agar, citrate utilization, urease test, motility test, oxidase and carbohydrate utilization tests. Catalase and coagulase tests were also employed to identify gram-positive isolates.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)
The Kary-Baur disc diffusion method was used for AST on Muller Hinton agar (MHA) (Oxoid, Ltd, England) as per the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guideline. Identical 3–5 pure colonies from overnight cultured specimen were suspended in 5 ml sterile nutrient broth (Oxoid, Ltd,England) and mixed thoroughly to make the suspension homogenous. The inoculum turbidity was adjusted to 0.5 McFarland standards. Then, the bacterial suspensions were seeded on the surface of the MHA using a sterile cotton swab. The antimicrobial impregnated disks were placed on the media using sterile forceps and plates were incubated at 37oC for 24 hours and the zone of inhibition was measured and interpreted as sensitive, intermediate and resistant as per the CLSI protocol. The following disks were used for gram negative bacteria; Amoxicillin (AML, 25 µg), Ceftriaxone (CRO, 30 µg), Cefotaxime (CTX, 30 µg), Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (AMC, 20/10 µg), Nitrofurantoin (F, 300 µg), Norfloxacin (NOR, 10 µg), Cephalexin (CN, 30 µg) and Ceftazidime (CAZ, 30 µg). Similarly, Ampicillin (AMP, 10 µg), Norfloxacin (NOR, 10 µg), Cefotaxime (CTX, 30 µg) and Amoxicillin (AML, 25 µg), were also used for gram-positive isolates. These disks were selected based on the CLSI (CLSI, 2018) and by considering the availability and frequent prescriptions of these drugs for the treatment of urinary tract infections in the study area.
Extended spectrum beta-lactamase detection: Initial screening for ESBL was done by the diameters of zones of inhibition produced by either Ceftazidime (30 µg) or Cefotaxime (30 µg) from the AST on MHA according to the CLSI screening criteria. These breakpoints indicated of suspicion for ESBL production were: for Ceftazidime (30 µg) ≤ 22 mm and for Cefotaxime ≤ 27 mm. After this initial screening was done, phenotypic detection of ESBL production was confirmed by Combined Disk (Double Disk Potentiate) test according to CLSI guidelines (CLSI, 2018).
Quality control
Specimen collection was made following the recommended approach. We strictly followed the manufacturers’ instruction and bacteriological standard procedures during culture media preparation and AST testing. The standard reference bacteria strains such as E.coli (ATCC 25922), P. aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) and S. aureus (ATCC 25923) were used were used for quality control of culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
Data analysis
Data was entered, cleaned and analyzed by using Statistical Software for social package (SPSS) version 23. Generated data were compiled by frequency tables and figures and other statistical summary measures. The proportion of uropathogenes was calculated. Similarly, the proportion of AMR to a specific drug was calculated. Chi square (X2) was considered to find out factors associated with culture positive urine samples and statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05.