WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Ziad Khalid Majeed Al Bazzaz, Muthana Ahmed Azeez and Mohammed Ali Hazim Mohammed Ali

ABSTRACT

Background: Lethargy is characterized by the infant's seeming lack of energy. Infants are more susceptible tourinary tract infections (UTIs) because of their immature immune systems. A significant percentage of infants’UTIs do not manifest with fever or other particular urinary tract symptoms, despite fever being a notable indicatorof UTI in neonates. Thus, understanding the vague symptoms and indicators of a newborn UTI is crucial forprompt diagnosis to avoid serious consequences. Objectives: To assess the presence of urinary tract infectionamong infants with lethargy in Mosul Province-Iraq. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted including120 randomly selected cases of lethargic neonates under or equal to 28 days old of both genders who presented toIbin Al Atheer and Al Salam teaching hospitals in Mosul, Iraq between April 1st, 2024, and April 1st, 2025. Thequestionnaire includes Three parts; part one for socio-demographic data such as patients’ age, weight, gender,residency, home condition, maturity, mode of delivery and history of neonatal care unit admission. maternal agesand parity. Part two for maternal obstetric history including gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypertension,urinary tract infection during pregnancy and antenatal care. Part three for urinary culture results. Results: Thestudy includes 120 patients with proven diagnosis of urinary tract infection, the mean age of the study participantsis 9.12 ± 6.47 days. Of them 71 (59.1%) were males and 49 (41.9%) were females. 76 (63.3%) patients hadproven culture positive. Of them; 37 (48.7%) patients had E.coli, 16 (21.1%) patients had Klebsiella, 11 (14.4%)patients had proteus, 7 (9.3%) patients had S.aureus, 3 (3.9%) had Enterobacter and 2 (2.6%) had Pseudomonas.Patients age more than seven days are shown to be in risky association (odds ratio=4.583) and statisticallysignificant different (P <0.001), the presence of urinary tract infection during pregnancy are shown to be in riskyassociation (odds ratio=31.528) and statistically significant different (P <0.001). Conclusion: The studyconcluded that urine culture should be performed on all lethargic neonates. Furthermore; routine UTI screeningduring pregnancy should occur at the first and subsequent prenatal appointments.