Karaca Yilmaz, Coplu Nilay, Gozalan Aysegül, Oncul Ozgur, Citil Burak E, Esen Berrin
Refik Saydam National Hygiene Center, Communicable Diseases Research Department, Sihhiye, 06100 Ankara, Turkey.
Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2005 Jul;26(1):75-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2005.03.012.
Over the last 10 years the treatment of choice for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Turkey has changed from co-trimoxazole to quinolones owing to the rate of resistance to co-trimoxazole and its high level of therapeutic failure. The resistance ratio of 1939 UTI Escherichia coli from outpatients (1994-2003) was evaluated by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method for the aforementioned antibiotics to determine the change in resistance. The co-trimoxazole resistance ratio decreased during this period, with the highest ratio in 1996 (69.3%) and the lowest ratio in 2003 (38.5%) (P < 0.001). The lowest resistance ratios occurred in 1995 (4.1%) for ofloxacin and in 1996 (5.2%) for ciprofloxacin, and the highest resistance ratios occurred in 2002 (25.3% and 27.6%) for ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, respectively (P < 0.001, P < 0.001). These findings emphasise that antibiotic usage policies, especially empirical therapies, should be based on antimicrobial resistance surveillance studies.
