An epidemiological study on the drug resistance of Escherichia coli strains isolated from women patients with urinary tract infection in Shalamzar, Iran

ObjectiveTo investigate drug resistance of various strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria isolated from female patients with urinary tracts infections (UTIs) in Shalamzar, Iran.MethodsThis study was conducted from April 2011 to April 2012 on 150 female patients with positive urine culture and 105 CFU/mL colony count. The pattern of antibiotic sensitivity was recognized using antibiogram by the disc diffusion method.ResultsThe results revealed that the predominant bacterium was E. coli (90%), followed by Klebsiella pneumonia (3%). Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the initial medicine to treat UTIs (without complications) which demonstrated relatively poor activity against E. coli (with 40% sensitivity), though alternative medicines such as nitrofurantoin (97% sensitivity) and ciprofloxacin (91% sensitivity) showed good activity against E. coli as well.ConclusionsThe findings emphasized the necessity of pursuing the investigations in national and local governments in order to retain the efficacy of treating UTIs using effective antibiotics.