BACKGROUND

Uncomplicated bacterial urinary tract infections(uUTIs) are commonly seen in outpatient practice. They are usuallytreated empirically with antibiotics. The pertinent German ClinicalPractice Guideline contains recommendations on antibiotic selection,with the additional advice that the local resistance situationshould be considered as well. However, up-to-date information onlocal resistance is often unavailable, because microbiological testingis mainly recommended for complicated UTIs. Resistance ratesare often higher in recurrent uUTIs than in single episodes. In thisstudy, we aimed to determine the resistance rates of Escherichiacoli (E. coli) in patients with community-acquired uUTIs and tomake these data available to the treating physicians.

METHODS

In a nationwide cross-sectional study in Germany (DRKS00019059), we determined the percentages of resistance to antibioticsrecommended for uUTIs (first choice: fosfomycin, nitro -xoline, mecillinam, nitrofurantoin, trimethoprim; second choice:cefpodoxime, ciprofloxacin, cotrimoxazole, levofloxacin, norfloxacin,ofloxacin) over the period 2019-2021. The data were stratified bysingle episodes vs. recurrent UTIs (rUTIs).

RESULTS

Data from 2390 subjects were analyzed. E. coli was foundin 75.4% of the samples with positive urine cultures (1082 out of1435). The resistance rate of E. coli in single episodes (n = 725)was less than 15% for all antibiotics tested. In rUTIs(n = 357), resistance rates were also less than 15%for the most part; the only exceptions were trimethoprim(21.4%) and cotrimoxazole (19.3%).

CONCLUSION

For single episodes of uUTI, all of theantibiotics studied can be recommended, at least asfar as their resistance profiles are concerned. Forrecurrent UTI, all but trimethoprim and cotrimoxazolecan be recommended. The second-choice antibioticsexamined do not have a more favorable resistanceprofile than the first-choice antibiotics.