Bacterial pathogens implicated in causing urinary tract infection (uti) and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in Ethiopia

• Main Author: Theodros Getachew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas 2010-01-01
• Series: Revista CENIC. Ciencias Biológicas
• Online Access: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=181220509004

Introduction: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious disease ranking next to upper respiratory tract infection is the cause of morbidity and mortality in human. They are mostly caused by bacteria. However, studies conducted in Ethiopia are few and are not extensive. Therefore, studying bacterial pathogens causing UTI and their drug susceptibility patterns is of a highest priority. Material & Methods: A total of 3228 urine samples were collected from 2004 to 2009. Fresh midstream urine samples were aseptically collected in sterile containers. Each sample was cultured onto 5% sheep blood agar and CLED agar plates using a calibrated loop, delivering 1ul of the sample. This was incubated at 37° C aerobically overnight. Bacterial isolates were identified using standard biochemical tests and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern was determined using the Kirby ¿ Bauer¿s disk diffusion method followed CLSI guidelines. Result & discussion: From a total of 3228 urine samples significant bacterial growth was obtained from 651 samples. The gram positive and negative bacteria accounted 17.7 % and 80.2% respectively, the rest 2.2 % are yeasts. The majority 475(72.9) of the isolates were from women while the remaining 176 (27.1) were from men. A wide spectrum of uropathogens was isolated, of which 359 (55.1 %) were Escherichia coli, 107 (16.4 %) Klebsiella species, 66 (10.1 %) streptococcus species, 49(7.5%) staphylococcus species, 14 (2.2 %) citrobacter species, 14 (2.2 %) candida species, 13 (2 %) enterobacter species, 11 (1.7 %) pseudomonas and the rest 2.8% are 5 proteus species, 5 salmonella species, 4 acinetobacter species and 4 M. morganii. Resistance rate to Gram-negative bacilli were 96 % to amoxicilline-clavulanic acid, 66.9 % to tetracycline, 61.4 % to ampicillin, 64.7 % to trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole, 37.6 % to chloramphenicol, 34 % to norfloxacine and 22.4 % to ceftriaxone. Among Gram-positive, 45.1 % were resistant to penicillin, 25.8 % to chloramphenicol, 21.1 % to erythromycin and 9.1 % to clindamycine. Conclusions: High prevalence of drug-resistant urinary tract pathogens, particularly to amoxicilline-clavulanic acid, tetracycline, ampicillin and co-trimoxazole suggests cautious use of antibiotic therapy for the treatment. Finally, we suggest that empirical antibiotic selection should be based on knowledge of the local prevalence of bacterial organisms and antibiotic sensitivities rather than on universal guidelines.