URINARY TRACT INFECTION BACTERIA AND THEIR DRUG RESISTANCE

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections, and the increasing antimicrobial resistance of uropathogens progressively limits the options for empirical therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the spectrum of bacteria causing UTIs in outpatients of City Clinical Hospital No. 1 (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and to evaluate their susceptibility to commonly used antibiotics. Sixty urine samples from patients with clinically diagnosed UTI and significant bacteriuria (≥105 CFU/mL) were cultured, and the isolates were identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The susceptibility of the predominant isolates to ten antibiotics belonging to seven classes was determined by the disc diffusion method. Women accounted for 56.7% of the patients, and the mean age was 38.82 ± 15.3 years. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria represented 52% and 48% of the isolates, respectively. Escherichia coli (43%) was the most frequent uropathogen, followed by Staphylococcus haemolyticus (35%) and Staphylococcus aureus (10%). None of the tested isolates produced an inhibition zone with oxacillin or ampicillin, and most were resistant to piperacillin and co-trimoxazole, whereas tetracycline produced inhibition zones against all isolates. The S. aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates showed no inhibition by agents of three or more antimicrobial classes, consistent with a multidrug-resistant phenotype. These results suggest that resistance to commonly used antibiotics is frequent among uropathogens in this clinical setting and support the use of urine culture and susceptibility testing before treatment.