Prevalence Of Non-fermenters In Urinary Tract Infections In A Tertiary Care Hospital

Background and Objective: Aerobic nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli (non-fermenters) are now emerging as important uropathogens. This study was done to know the prevalence of non-fermenters in Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) along with their antibiotic sensitivity. Method: 5436 mid stream urine specimens received in six months period from July to December 2007 were subjected to Gram,s staining ,semi-quantitative culture, biochemical tests and antibiotic sensitivity testing as per the standard procedures in the routine microbiology laboratory and the results were noted. Results: Out of the 1271 culture positive cases with significant bactereuria, 120 (9.44%) were caused by non-fermenters. Among the non-fermenters, Pseudomonas spp. was the most common (80.84%) followed by Acinetobacter spp. (19.16%). Majority of patients belonged to the age group of 15 to 50 years and most of them were females. Antibiotic sensitivity testing revealed that, among Pseudomonas spp., 75.25% isolates were sensitive to Piperacillin, 71.13% sensit ive to Amikacin, 43.30% sensit ive to Ciprofloxacin, 31.95% sensitive to Ceftazidime and 91.66% sensitive to Imipenem. In the case of Acinetobacter spp., 73.91% isolates were sensitive to Amikacin, 34.78% sensitive to Norfloxacin and all were sensitive to imipenem. Out of the 18 non-fermenter isolates which were resistant to commonly used antibiotics, 15 were from inpatients indicating the possibility of nosocomial infection. Conclusion: The non-fermenters are emerging as important cause of Urinary Tract Infections. In this study, Pseudomonas spp. was the most common non-fermenter isolated in significant numbers in MSU specimens. But, Acinetobacter spp. appeared to be more resistant to invitro antibiotics in general.