Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: Eight months (Feb-Sept. 2009) prospective study was carried out in Ebonyi State University teaching hospital (EBSUTH) Abakaliki to determine the distribution and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from out-patients with community-acquired urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Abakaliki Ebonyi State, Nigeria. We consecutively collected one hundred and forty (140) non-duplicate isolates of E. coli from female out-patient with UTI. Urine samples were analyzed and organisms isolated using standard Microbiology technique, antibiotic susceptibility studies was carried out using Kirby and Bauer method of determining susceptibility. Bla TEM and SHV beta lactamases was determined in resistant isolates by specific PCR and clonal relatedness of strains was determined by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Antibiotic susceptibility rates for E. coli were; aztreonam (86.1%), doxycycline (31%), ampicillin (5%), ceftazidime (99.1%), cefotaxime (95.6%), cefoxitin (91.9%, cefotaxime (96.5%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (82.9%), cefepime (89.1%), cefuroxime (89%), imipenem (99%), ciprofloxacin (65.4%), levofloxacin (69.1%), sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim (6.4%), Nitrofurantoin (96.5%), gentamicin (72%), kanamycin (93.7%) and ticarcillin 39.1%. Bla TEM beta lactamase was polymerase chain reaction positive in all the strains while bla SHV was negative. RAPD analysis grouped our isolates into four clonal groups (A-D) with majority of the isolates belonging to clonal group A (85.7%). Our findings showed high rate of resistance of uropathogenic E. coli to ampicillin sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim, tircarcillin and doxcycline. Uropathogenic E. coli resistance to ampicillin and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim which is the commonest oral drug of choice in treating UTIs, are worrisome and also the wide distribution of the majority of uropathogenic E. coli in one clonal group (A) may have a major public health implications.