Volume : 4, Issue : 4, April - 2015

Use of aqueous extract of cranberry in the treatment of urinary tract infection during pregnancy.

Ms. Snehal Shivaji Patil, Dr. Lolly Jain

Abstract :

<p>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Asymptomatic bacteriuria presents a considerable risk to the mother and may lead to onset of acute pyelonephritis&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div&gt;in about 5% of pregnant women and also increase the risk of fetal mortality. In the present study 250 urine samples&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;were collected from pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of Somaiya Hospital, Sion, Mumbai. The frequency&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;of asymptomatic bacteriuria was 7.6% in our study. Prolonged use of antibiotics in urinary tract infection cases may cause side effects and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;resistance in bacteria against antibiotics. Therefore, we need alternative herbal and non&amp;ndash;antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infection such as&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;cranberry fruit. Thus, the study further continued to better understand effects of cranberry juice on uropathogenic strains in cases of urinary&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;tract infection. D&amp;ndash;mannose, a simple sugar found in cranberries and other fruits, is included in this formula to provide additional concentrated&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;support. A total of 18 gram positive and gram negative bacteria and 1 fungal isolate, isolated from urine samples were tested against different&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;concentrations of cranberry juice to examine the inhibitory activity invitro. All isolates showed sensitivity to concentrated cranberry juice while in&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;antibiotic therapy Cefazolin, Norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, co&amp;ndash;trimoxazole, Levofloxacin and Cefotaxime were found to be most effective antibiotics&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;against urinary isolates. It seems that cranberry has potent antibacterial activity against some uropathogens.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;</p>