The Analysis of Escherichia Coli Resistance in Urine Culture and in Antibiograms as Requested by Emergency Service

The aim of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance of infectious and non-infectious E. coli species in order to increase the success of empirical antibiotic treatment in urinary system infections.

The antibiotic susceptibility of 464 E. coli strains that were isolated from urine samples of patients who visited Derince Training and Research Hospital Emergency Department between January 1 and December 31, 2012 were retrospectively evaluated from records. The antibiogram results were classified as susceptible, moderately susceptible or resistant. Moderately susceptible strains were assumed to be resistant.

Bacterial proliferation was seen in 563 (28.1%) of the 1998 urine cultures tested. One hundred and twelve cultures could not be evaluated due to contamination, and there was no proliferation in 1323 cultures. E. coli strains were isolated in 464 (82.4%) of the cultures in which proliferation was seen. Three hundred and sixty seven (79%) of the patients were female, 97 (21%) were male, and the mean age of all of the patients was 41.1±24.1 years (min: 1, max: 90). The antibiograms of the E. coli strains revealed that meropenem had the lowest resistance (0%), while ampicillin-sulbactam had the highest resistance (36.8%).

In this study, we investigated the antibiotic resistance of E. coli strains isolated from urine cultures in our region. Future studies, perhaps similar to this one, can be performed in the future to increase the success of treatments.