Urinary Tract Infections and Antibiotic Sensitivity Patterns Among Women Referred to Azadi Teaching Hospital, Duhok, Iraq

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very common worldwide. Such an infection is usually treated with empirical antimicrobial therapy. However, there are trends of increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. The aims of this study were to determine the most common bacterial causative agents and their antibiotic sensitivity pattern in women suffering from UTI in Duhok, Kurdistan, northern Iraq. Methods: Urine samples were collected from 371 subjects afflicted with UTI and inoculated directly on blood and MacConkey agar and then incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. Bacterial colonies were determined by standard culture and biochemical characteristics. All isolates were tested for their antibiotic susceptibility. Results: The vast majority of the isolates were Gramnegative and only 2 (0.5%) of them were Grampositive. The highest infection by Gramnegative bacteria belonged to Escherichia coli 276/371 (74.4%) and about 74.2% of which were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Additionally, around 65% of the isolated E. coli were resistant to ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, and cefepime. It was found that the Pseudomonas strains were resistant to ceftazidime (42%), ertapenem (75%), and ciprofloxacin (50%). Conclusions: There were increasing rates of antibiotic resistance especially in E. coli. Urgent measures are needed to contain such a resistance pattern and a plan for continuous surveillance is required to monitor antibiotic sensitivity pattern.