Antibiotic resistance and detection of the sul2 gene in urinary isolates of Escherichia coli in patients from Brazil.

INTRODUCTION The present study aimed to assess the antibiotic resistance profiles and detect the presence of the sul2 gene in sulfamethoxazole-susceptible and resistant isolates of Escherichia coli obtained from outpatients and inpatients with urinary tract infections. METHODOLOGY The resistance profiles of 739 strains were assessed and the presence of the sul2 gene in 100 isolates was tested. RESULTS The antibiotics with the highest resistance rates were ampicillin (57.4%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (44.7%). The presence of the gene sul2 was detected in 66.7% of outpatient samples and 67.9% of inpatient samples. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that E. coli isolates exhibit high resistance to various classes of antibiotics, highlighting the need for developing strategies to help in prescribing antibiotics.