Regional community-acquired urinary tract infections in Israel: diagnosis, pathogens, and antibiotic guidelines...

The identification and treatment of hospitalized patients with community-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTI) may be a challenge. The pathogens causing the infection and their relative proportions vary geographically and with time. This observational prospective study had three primary goals: (1) to estimate the likelihood of diagnosis of CAUTI upon admission; (2) to evaluate adherence to the institutional recommendations; (3) to assess the compatibility of the current local antibiotic recommendations with a pathogen's distribution and with its drug sensitivities.

Two hundred and twenty-three patients with positive urinary cultures fulfilling criteria for CAUTI were studied. Only 54 (24.2%) were diagnosed as having a urinary tract infection upon admission. Approximately 90% of the patients, who were correctly diagnosed, received the institutional recommended antibiotic therapy (ofloxacin or cefuroxime). Gram-negative intestinal flora comprised 86.1% (192 patients) of the causative microorganisms. Of these, 20.3% of the pathogens demonstrated resistance to ofloxacin and 19.8% to cefuroxime. The prevalence of Escherichia coli, the most common pathogen of UTI, significantly declined in the current study, from 70.5% in 1991 to 56% in 2000.

We observed a low sensitivity in diagnosing community-acquired urinary tract infections upon admission. In patients correctly diagnosed, the use of recommended antibiotics was high. A substantial percentage of the pathogens were resistant to the recommended antibiotics. This study stresses the need for frequent re-evaluation of the prevalence of pathogens involved in regional community-acquired urinary tract infections and the adjustment of the empirical first-line treatment accordingly.