The Prevalence of Klebsiella Species Causing Urinary Tract Infections in Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most commonly encountered infections, both in the community and in hospitals. The study investigated the Prevalence of Klebsiella species among patients suspected of UTI in Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. Two hundred urine specimens of patients comparing of 135(67.5%) outpatients and 65(32.5%) inpatients and classified into 125(62.5%) females and 75(37.5%) males were bacteriologically evaluated. A total of 61(30.5%) yielded significant growth on culture of which 50(25%) were from females and 11(5.5%) from males. The age distribution of the patients with significant bacterial growth showed that patients within the age group of 21-30 years had the highest (UTI) cases of 33(16.5%) but those within the age group of less or equal to 10 years and those within the 51 to 60 years age bracket had 3(1.5%) UTI cases each. Of the uropathogens isolated, Escherichia coli was the most frequent organism responsible for UTI with 29((14.5%), followed by Klebsiella species with 16(8.0%). Other organisms isolated were Staphylococcus species 9(4.5%), proteus species 5(2.5%) and Pseudomonas species 2(1.0%) respectively. The speciation of Klebsiella species isolated `showed that 14(7.0%) were Klebsiella pneumoniae and 2(1.0%) were Klebsiella oxytoca. The antibiotic susceptibility testing for Klebsiella species isolates showed Ofloxacin as the best drug of choice with all the 16 isolates susceptible to Ofloxacin but at the same time all were resistant to ampicillin.