Background: The isolation of vaginal bacteria from females indicates colonization or infection and their complexity are influenced by sexual activity, childbirth, tampon use and other happenings during their reproductive life. The objective of this study was to do the statistical analysis for the recovered bacteria from vaginal swabs of infected women in Pars hospital, Tehran, Iran.
Methods: Vaginal swabs of patients admitted to Pars hospital during the March 2013 to June 2013 were cultured and antimicrobial susceptibility of isolated bacteria was determined by disk diffusion methods. Thereafter, all the data collected from these isolates were analyzed statistically using SPSS software.
Results: From 50 bacterial positive vaginal swabs, 49 of them were recovered from outpatients and only one was from hospitalized patient. Most of isolates (34 cases, 68%) recovered from female in the age group of 15-44 years. The most prevalent isolated bacteria from vagina included Group B Streptococci (GBS) (34%), E. coli (32%), Enterococci spp. (18%) and Klebsiella spp. (6%), respectively. All GBS isolates showed sensitivity to penicillin, ampicillin, vancomycin and cefotaxime. Resistance to erythromycin and clindamycin was shown in 47.1% and to cefepime and levofloxacin in 15.4% and 17.6% of GBS isolates, respectively.
Conclusion: Although GBS are colonized in the vagina and almost 10-30% of pregnant women possess these bacteria in their vagina, it has been shown that 50-70% of them may transfer GBS to their neonates. Therefore, in order to prevent neonatal GBS infection, isolation of GBS from women in reproductive age is important. The finding indicated that the most recovered bacteria from vagina of studied patients were GBS and from the women at the age group of 15-44 years, it is important to use proper methods for diagnosis of these infections especially in pregnant women to prevent newborn infections. Fortunately, the frequency of resistance to common antibiotics is low in GBS isolates.