• Tamba Buffa
• Amidu Gibril Torto
• Zikan Koroma
• Julian Sydney Olufemi Campbell
• Abdulai Kanu

Background: Pregnant women experience physiological changes during pregnancy which make the urinary tract a frequent location for infections. These alterations predispose them to infections. Researchers investigated how often Gram-negative bacteria appear in urinary tract infections among pregnant women at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown and their resistance patterns. Method: The study was a cross-sectional in vitro experimental investigation which included pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital. Participant’s information was captured using structured questionnaire. The microbiology laboratory at the hospital processed 154 clean-catch midstream urine samples for culturing. The Vitek 2 compact automated system was used to perform susceptibility tests Result: Urinary tract infections occurred in 27.9% of pregnant women in the study. The highest infection rates occurred in individuals aged between 16 to 20 years. The laboratory analysis identified Pseudomonas aeruginosa along with Klebsiella pneumoniae Acinetobacter baumannii Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli in the samples. The study found that Escherichia coli (E. coli) was the leading Gram-negative microorganism isolated which represented half of the total microbial presence. All the isolates were resistant to ampicillin. The most frequent microbial isolate exhibited high susceptibility to ciprofloxacin along with gentamicin ceftriaxone and ceftazidine. Conclusion: The research documented a significant occurrence of urinary tract infections among women who were pregnant. The research identified E. coli as the leading Gram-negative microorganism found during isolation and found all microbial strains resistant to ampicillin.

Key Words: UTI, Pregnancy, Gram – negative bacteria, E.coli, K. pneumonia, resistance and susceptibility.

"Investigation of the occurrence and antibiotic resistance of Gram – negative bacteria causing urinary tract infections among pregnant women at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no.l461-l471, May-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505C41.pdf

"Investigation of the occurrence and antibiotic resistance of Gram – negative bacteria causing urinary tract infections among pregnant women at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no. ppl461-l471, May-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505C41.pdf