Prevalence of infective organisms of infections of urinary tract in a sample of Arab infants and children

Background: Infections of urinary tract were considered as the most common hospital-acquired infections in hospitalized patients. Area-specific monitoring studies aimed to assess the prevalence of causative organisms of urinary tract infections (UTIs) and their responsiveness to different available antimicrobials in a sample of Arab children, which may help the clinician to choose the correct empirical treatment. We aimed to study the type of urinary pathogens isolated from hospitalized patients with first-episode UTI in our locality and its antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Materials and Methods: Urine samples were collected from 320 clinically suspected cases of UTI from inpatient wards and outpatient clinic of Pediatric Department of Tanta University Hospital during the period from June 2016 to June 2017. The samples were tested microbiologically by standard procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated pathogens was tested for commonly used antibiotics by disc diffusion method according to hospital policy. Results: Significant bacteriuria was present in 75% of the samples, 16.25% were sterile, and 8.75% showed insignificant bacteriuria. The most common pathogens were Escherichia coli (55%), Klebsiella spp. (26.6%), and Proteus mirabilis (14.2%). The mean susceptibility was high for amikacin (85%), ceftriaxone (82%), cefotaxime (80%), nitrofurantoin (80%), and nalidixic acid (78%) but low for ampicillin (21%), cephalexin (30%), and sulfamethoxazole + trimethoprim (37%). Conclusions: The antibiotics which are commonely used in UTIs such as trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole,ampicillin and cephalexin are not appropriate for embrical treatment of common UTIs.This may be attributed to high rate of bacterial resistance .Regular monitering of these patients is recommended to establish reliable information about patterns of urinary pathogens aiming optimal embrical therapy for children with UTI.