Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern and Age Dependent Etiology of Urinary Tract Infections in Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz, South-West of Iran

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common bacterial diseases. The etiological agents and emergence of antimicrobial resistance UTIs vary according to time and geographical region. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of etiological agents of UTIs and determine their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern to locally available antibiotics. Patients and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted within six months on all patients with clinical symptoms of UTI who referred to Nemazee Teaching hospital, Shiraz, Iran. Clean catch midstream urine samples were collected and cultured on appropriate media in a short time as possible. Conventional bacteriological methods were followed for the isolation and identification of the bacteria. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were determined by locally available antibiotics by using disk diffusion method in accordance with CLSI recommendation. Results: In this study, from overall 9991 specimens analyzed 848 (8.5%) culture had significant bacterial growth. Of the total positive cultures, 500 (59%) cases were female. Escherichia coli (50.6%) was the predominant gram-negative isolated pathogen followed by Klebsiella spp. and Enterobacter spp., respectively. Enterococcus isolates (11.2%) was the most isolated gram-positive cocci. Nitrofurantoin (80.9%), gentamycin (77.9%) and amikacin (65.3%) had the most in-vitro antibacterial effect on E. coli isolates as the predominant cause of UTIs. Conclusions: The results of regional assessments, such as our study, provide not only useful information for prescription of more effective empirical therapy, but also good epidemiological background for comparison of our situation with other regions.