A Cross-Sectional Study to Evaluate Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Uropathogens from South Punjab, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common infection caused by uropathogenic bacteria. Drug resistance against common antibiotics is a leading cause of treatment failure in UTIs.

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to check the prevalence of antimicrobial susceptibility against uropathogens and identify the best treatment option against UTIs.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, urine samples (n = 1000) were collected and cultured for pure bacterial growth by using cysteine-lactose-electrolyte-deficient (CLED) media. After physical and biochemical characterization, antibacterial susceptibility was performed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method.

RESULTS

Uropathogenic bacteria were successfully isolated in 57% (n = 572) of total tested samples (n = 1000). 51.2% (n = 293/572), species 15.4% (n = 88/572), species 15.4% (n = 88/572), species 9.4% (n = 54/572), 3.2% (n = 18/572), coagulase-negative (CoNS) 3.0% (n = 17/572) and species 2.4% (n = 14/572) were the most prevalent organism in UTIs. Prevalence of Gram-negative rods (GNRs) was 78.5% (n = 449/572) among UTI patients as compared to Gram-positive cocci (GPCs) 21.5% (n = 123/572). 65.3% (n = 293/449), species 19.6% (n = 88/449), species 12.0% (54/449) and species 3.1% (n = 14/449) were the most prevalent GNRs in UTIs, while species 71.5% (n = 88/123), 14.6% (n = 18/123) and coagulase-negative (CoNS) 13.8% (17/123) were the most prevalent GPCs in UTIs. The majority of isolated uropathogens showed resistance against routinely used antibiotics. However, teicoplanin and linezolid were the most effective drugs against GPCs and piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem and imipenem were the most effective drugs against GNRs. Nitrofurantoin and fosfomycin were shown to be most effective against both GNRs and GPCs.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, (GNRs) and species (GPCs) are the most prevalent organisms among UTIs patients, which are shown to be antibiotic-resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics. However, nitrofurantoin and fosfomycin are the most effective drugs against uropathogens in UTIs.