Detection and Antibiogram of Urinary Tract Infection among Out-patients Attending a Tertiary Health Facility in Port-Harcourt, Southern Nigeria

This study was carried out to explore microbial pathogens implicated in urinary tract infection (UTI), their antibiotic susceptibility and multi-drug resistant patterns as prevalent in UTI symptomatic and asymptomatic outpatients attending clinic at University of Port-Harcourt teaching hospital. One hundred mid-stream urine samples were collected from consented patients and transported to the microbiology laboratory of University of Port-Harcourt where it was analyzed using standard microbiological methods. A total of 27(27.0%) UTI isolates were obtained with E. coli 7(7.0%), K. pneumoniae 5(5.0%), C. albicans 4(4.0%), S. aureus 3(3.0%), P. aeruginosa, H. alvei and P. mirabilis 2(2.0%) respectively and Klebsiella oxytoca and Enterococcus faecalis 1(1.0%) respectively. There was a preponderance of UTI cases in female patients than male patients and people within the reproductive age of 25-34 years constituted the most risk group. Of the eight antimicrobials tested, high susceptibility pattern was observed for Imipenem 19(82.6%), Gentamycin 14(60.9), Ampicillin and Erythromycin 12(52.2%) respectively, while the least susceptibility pattern was observed in Ciprofloxacin 9(39.1%). All but one of the isolates from E. coli and K. pneumoniae respectively, were multi-drug resistant, while all the S. aureus and P. mirabilis isolates were multi-drug resistant. One isolate from E. faecalis and H. alvei respectively were multi-drug resistant while no multi-drug resistance was obtained from K. oxytoca and P. aeruginosa isolates. Prevention of UTI in the study area can be achieved through good personal hygiene, while its empirical treatment can be achieved with the use of Imipenem, Gentamycin, Ampicillin and Erythromycin as revealed in this study.