Etiology and Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Community- and Hospital-Acquired Urinary Tract Infections in a General Hospital in Kuwait

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the bacterial profile and prevalence of antibiotic resistance patterns of uropathogens, as well as evaluate the problem with extendedspectrum -lactamase (ESBL) producing isolates, causing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Al-Amiri Hospital, Kuwait, over a 3-year period. Materials and Methods: Isolates (56,505) from symptomatic UTI cases from January 2005 to December 2007 were identified by conventional methods and the VITEK identification card system. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion method for Gram-positive organisms and an automated VITEK 2 machine for Gram-negative organisms. ESBL production by the Enterobacteriaceae was detected by the double-disk diffusion method and VITEK-2 system. Results: Significant bacteriuria was detected in 15,064 (26.6%) of the 56,505 urine samples. Escherichia coli accounted for 4,876 (54.9%) from community-acquired UTI (CA-UTI) and 2,253 (36.4%) from hospital-acquired UTI (HA-UTI), followed by Streptococcus agalactiae (1,129, 12.7%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (962, 10.8%) from CA-UTI cases. Candida spp. (973, 15.7%) and K. pneumoniae (747, 12.1%) were the second and third most prevalent isolates, respectively, in HA-UTI. High resistance rates were observed among the Enterobacteriaceae against ampicillin, cephalothin, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin and triReceived: August 9, 2009 Revised: November 8, 2009 Dr. Khalifa Al Benwan, MD, MSc, FRCPath Department of Microbiology Al-Amiri Hospital, PO Box 4077 Safat 13041 (Kuwait) Tel. +965 6691 0508, Fax +965 2246 3790, E-Mail drbanwan @ gmail.com © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/10/0196–0440$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .1 91 .4 0. 80 9 /1 6/ 20 17 8 :2 6: 40 P M