Urinary tract infection: prevalence, isolated organisms and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, South-south Nigeria

Abstract

Objective:  The emergence of antibiotic resistance in Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) treatment is of serious public health concern. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the incidence rates (i.e. prevalence rates) and choice of antibiotic prescription in UTI cases in South-south, Nigeria.

Design:  Data of three hundred (300) patients, who had been admitted for urinary tract infections, treated and discharged over the period of six years (from January, 2010 to December 2015) were studied for UTI prevalence, treatment and antimicrobial resistance pattern.

Results:  Of the 300 cases of UTIs studied, 126 were males and 174 were females. The prevalence of UTIs was highest within the age of 21-30 years (23%). the highest prevalence of UTI (50%) was observed among students, followed by traders (28%). It was also observed that UTI was higher in patients who were married than in singles. E. coli was the most frequently isolated organism being from 120 (40%) patients, followed by Klebsiella spp. isolated from 84 (28%) patients. The antibiotic susceptibility results showed that Meropenem had the highest antibacterial effect against UTIs pathogens as all the isolates were susceptible (100%) to it, followed by Amoxicillin/Clavulanate (95.7%), Amikacin (89.3%) and Tetracycline (82.7%). E. coli and Klebsiella spp. were resistant to Metronidazole (0%). E. coli showed very low susceptibility to Amoxicillin and Chloramphenicol (19.2% and 22.5% respectively) while Klebsiella spp. showed low susceptibility to Chloramphenicol (13.4%) and Amoxicillin (29.7%).

Conclusions:  A wide range of antimicrobials is in use with some observed low susceptibility and drug resistance by some isolated organisms hence need for emphasis on treatment compliance by patients and good antimicrobial stewardship by physicians