| Summary
Background: The empirical therapy of urinary tract infections (UTI) relies on the predictability of
the agents causing UTI and knowledge of their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns.
Methods: In a prospective study undertaken over a 14-month period, 5136 samples from patients
suspected of having a UTI were analyzed, of which 676 were culture-positive. Isolated bacteria
were identified by standard tests, and antibiotic susceptibility was determined by disk diffusion
method.
Results: According to our results, Escherichia coli was the most common etiological agent of UTI
(74.6%), followed by Klebsiella spp (11.7%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (6.4%), and Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (2.2%). Analysis of the frequency of isolated bacteria according to the age of the patients
revealed that Klebsiella infections are more prevalent in the older age groups (>10 years) and
Pseudomonas infections are more prevalent in children and the elderly (<9 years and >60 years).
Results of antimicrobial susceptibility analysis for E. coli, as the most prevalent cause of UTI, to
commonly used antibiotics are as follows: amikacin (97.8%), gentamicin (97%), ciprofloxacin (94%),
nitrofurantoin (87.1%), nalidixic acid (93.7%), trimethoprim—sulfamethoxazole (48.2%), cephalexin
(76%), and ampicillin (6.9%).
Conclusions: The results show that the antimicrobial resistance patterns of the causes of UTI are
highly variable and continuous surveillance of trends in resistance patterns of uropathogens is
important.
#2008 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |