باكتريولوژي عفونتهاي دستگاه ادراري در افراد مبتلا به عقب ماندگي ذهني

Bacteriology of Urianry Tract Infections in Mentally Retarded Individuals

Background and Objectives: Mental retardation is a behavioral syndrome, that its cause, mechanism of development, and sumptoms differ from individual to individual. This sundrome which is observed in people with mental problems, has an effect on intellectual function, efficiency of patients, as compared with the same age and social groups, in aspects such as social skills, responsibilities, establishing relationship with others, personal routines, independence, and self-sufficiency. These functions may be detoriated or significantly decreased. As a result of the influence of retardation on learning different concepts such as personal hygiene, it is expected that the prevalence of infectious diseases such as urinary tract infections among these people, as compared with peers and homogenous sex groups, would be high. The aim of this study, was to investigate the urinary tract infections among mentally retarded childern, and to compare their frequency with normal individuals. Materials and Methods: In this study, urine samples of 200 (45% males and 55% females) mentally retaded individuals under the age of 14, which had been under different treatments at private rehabilitation centers, and 60 (30 males, 30 Females) normal peers, were examined by microscopy and culture methods for facultative bacteria. Results: The results show the presence of urine infections in 5% of indivduals among mentally retarded group, while no positive culture was obtained amongst normal control group. Among isolates, E.coli was the most prevalent organism, detected in 6 (60%) cases; this microorganism was sensitive to ciprolloxacin, gentamicin and nitrofurantoin, but was resistant to ampicillin. The highest percentage of infections (5.45%) was seen in females and among illiterate families. Conclusion: Prevalence of urinary tract infections amongst mentally retarded group was same as that observed in normal people, but the incidence of Ihes infections was higher (5%) than that found in normal peer and homogenous sex groups (0%).