Abstract

This study was to investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in patients clinically diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus and to determine the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacterial isolates. One hundred and thirty type 2 diabetics comprising 56 males and 74 females (aged between 30 - 59 years) attending the Central Hospital, Benin- City, Nigeria were studied. Mid-stream urines were collected from patients who gave informed consent aseptically into sterile McCartney bottles and examined microscopically, culturally using standard techniques and tested for glucose, post-prandial glucose, protein and ketone using a dipstick. Samples were cultured on blood agar, McConkey agar and cysteine lactose electrolyte deficient (CLED) media and incubated at 37°C aerobically for 24 h. Isolates were tested against antibiotics which included tetracycline, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and cotrimoxazole by the disc diffusion method. White blood cells (WBC) and red blood cells (RBC) were detected in 87 and 6% of samples while ketones and proteins were 6% and 96% respectively present in the samples. Significant bacteriuria (≥10⁵ cfu /ml) was observed in some samples. Bacteria isolated included Escherichia coli with a prevalence of 56.9%, followed byKlebsiella pneumoniae (12.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (8.5%) and Proteus sp. (6.3%). E. coli, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus and Proteus sp. were most sensitive to cotrimazaxole, amoxicillin, nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin but a large number of bacteria were resistant to tetracycline, chloramphenicol and ampicillin. The misuse of some antibiotics is a major factor responsible for bacterial resistance. Therefore, treatment of ASB in diabetics must be by drugs prescribed by physicians after proper laboratory analysis.

Key words: Bacteriuria, type 2 diabetes mellitus, antibiotics, Nigeria, white blood cell, red blood cell.