choosing the correct empirical antibiotic for urinary tract infection in pediatric: surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of escherichia coli by e-test method.

background and objectives: urinary tract infections (utis) are of the most common bacterial diseases worldwide. we investigate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of escherichia coli (e. coli) strains isolated from pediatric patients with community acquired urinary tract infection (uti) to find a clinical guidance for choosing a right empirical antibiotic in these patients. materials and methods: in this cross sectional study, 100 urine specimens which were positive for e. coli had been investigated for antibiotics susceptibility pattern. the susceptibility to co-trimoxazol (25µg), amikacin (30µg), ceftriaxone (30µg), nalidixic acid (30µg), cefixime (5µg), and nitrofurantoin (300µg) tested with disk diffusion agar and mic determined with the e-test. results: mean age of patients was 38 months. girls had greater proportion than boys (74 versus 26%). in disk diffusion method, 26% of the isolates were susceptible to cotrimoxazole. susceptibility to amikacin, ceftriaxone, nitrofurantoin, nalidixic acid and cefixime was 94%, 66%, 97%, 62% and 52%, respectively. by e-test method and according to clsi criteria susceptibility for co-trimoxazol, amikacin, ceftriaxone and nalidixic acid was 37%, 97%, 67% and 50%, respectively. the highest percentage of agreement between disk diffusion and e-test method was found for amikacin (96%) and the lowest percentage for co-trimoxazole (89%). conclusions: treatment failure, prolonged or repeated hospitalization, increased costs of care, and increased mortality are some consequence of bacterial resistance in utis. misuse of antibiotics in each geographic location directly affects antibiotic resistance pattern. in the treatment of uti, proper selection of antimicrobial agents should be relevant to the bacterial susceptibility testing surveillance. according to our results, amikacin as an injectable drug and nitrofurantoin as an oral agent could be used as a drug of choice in our region for children with utis.