A study of the relationship between staphylococcus saprophyticus and urinary tract infection of women of childbearing age

Abstract

Coagulase negative Staphylococcus has long been considered of little significance as a urinary tract 
infection. The role of novobiocin resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus saprophyticus in infection of 
the urinary tract of women of childbearing age (14-40 years; mean age = 27 years; outpatients) was 
investigated. Three hundred female patients between the age bracket of 14 and 40 years (mean age= 27.3 
years) attending University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital were consecutively sampled and 100 healthy women 
of the same age bracket were recruited as the control group. Of the 300 women recruited as the study group, 
188 (62.7%) of them were positive for urinary tract infection of which 11 (5.85%) were positive for S. 
saprophyticus. This infection rate of 188 (62.7%) is statistically significant (p<0.01). In the control group, 30 
(30%) of the 100 women were positive for asymptomatic urinary tract infection. The difference between the 
individuals positive for UTI in the control group and that of the study group is statistically significant 
(p<0.01). This study has been able to establish that S. saprophyticus and other coagulase-negative 
Staphylococci that are often previously dismissed as culture contaminants have greater influence in urinary 
tract infection especially among women of childbearing age.