High prevalence of multidrug-resistance uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains, Isfahan, Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most frequent infectious diseases and can occur in all age groups. Escherichia coli is the main cause of this infection. Multiple resistances to antimicrobial agents are increasing quickly in E. coli isolates and may complicate therapeutic strategies for UTI. The aim of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern and the multidrug-resistance (MDR) phenotypes in uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 135 UPEC isolates were collected from both outpatients (91 isolates) and inpatients (44 isolates) between September, 2012 and February, 2013. In order to determine the MDR among UPEC isolates, we have tested 15 antimicrobial agents and antibiotic susceptibility was done by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. RESULTS: The percentage of MDR isolates (resistant to at least three drug classes such as aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, penicillins, cephalosporins, or carbapenems) was 68% in the inpatients and 61% in the outpatients. Antibiotic resistance to ampicillin, ceftazidim, nalidixic acid, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole were higher than 50%. Amikacin, nitrofurantoin, and gentamicin showed markedly greater activity (89.1%, 85.9%, and 82.4% sensitivity, respectively) than other antimicrobial agents. Resistance to meropenem did show either in outpatients or in inpatients. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of drug resistance among UTI patients calls for continuous monitoring of the incidence of drug resistance for appropriate empiric selection of antibiotic therapy. Empirical treatment of UTIs should be relied on susceptibility patterns from local studies.