Urinary tract infections--a survey

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) occur frequently in hospitalized patients and are associated with significant morbidity. The infection control department of the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia conducted prospective hospital-wide surveillance for one month to evaluate the incidence of UTIs. There were 40 UTIs: 62.5% in patients with indwelling catheters; 20% in patients undergoing intermittent catheterization; and 17.5% in uncatheterized patients, for an attack rate of 19.9 per 1000 patient discharges. Escherichia coli was the most common organism, isolated in 47.5% of the study population. Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole was used to treat 57.5% of the UTIs. The findings from this survey are consistent with those of other authors in comparable institutions.