Assessment of Antimicrobial Resistance and Susceptibility Pattern of UTI-causing Microorganisms in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Background: Bacterial resistance against antibiotics has become a global challenge and measures are needed to stop this. The aim of this study is to highlight this problem and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of organisms in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Sheikh Zayed Medical Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan. The urine samples obtained from 4 different wards were sent for culture and sensitivity analysis. 9 antibiotics (Nitrofurantoin, Fosfomycin, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriaxone, Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole, Norfloxacin, Linezolid, Amoxicillin, and Imipenem) were tested against 5 isolated strains of uropathogens using Kirby Bauer disk diffusion test. The sensitivity reports were obtained, and data points were entered into a spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS. Results: Out of 101 samples of uropathogens that showed positive growths (42.08%), 53 (52.4%) were from male patients and 48 (47.5%) positive growths were from females. Escherichia Coli had the highest positive growths (58%) followed by Pseudomonas (19%) Klebsiella (13%), Staphylococcus Aureus (7%) and Coagulase-negative staphylococci (3%). Imipenem was the most sensitive drug whereas the highest resistance by organisms was developed against TMP-SMX. No significant association(p>0.05) was found between any of the anti-microbial drugs and Escherichia coli, gram-positive uropathogens, and gram negative uropathogens. Conclusion: The high increasing rate of broad-spectrum antibiotics resistance suggests that diagnostic and culture tests should be encouraged in hospitals. Based on these test results, appropriate antibiotics should be prescribed. The limitations include the inability to distinguish between nosocomial and community-acquired urinary tract infections and also did not consider other demographic factors like age.