Susceptibility pattern of oral antimicrobials in uncomplicated UTI: Does fosfomycin still stand effective?

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a leading cause of morbidity amongst all age groups and most patients with uncomplicated UTI who visit the OPD are treated with empirical antibiotics without doing any culture analysis. Of all the oral antibiotics used in UTI, fosfomycin is well excreted in the urine and is being used for the treatment of UTIs with a single oral dose.

The current study was planned to determine the resistance amongst uropathogens to various oral antibiotics including fosfomycin isolated over a 4-year period (April 2015 to March 2019).

A total of 22,546 urine samples were received from OPD patients over 4 years and of these, 7,295 isolates were obtained from patients with uncomplicated UTI. About 82% of the isolates were gram-negative bacilli (GNBs). The most common isolate was E. coli 1023 (67.2%) followed by Klebsiella spp 254 (16.7%), and Pseudomonas spp 63 (4.1%). Of all the antibiotics tested, maximum sensitivity in the year 2018 was found to fosfomycin followed by nitrofurantoin for all the isolates tested. There was a statistically significant increase in the resistance pattern for almost all antibiotics tested in gram-negative bacteria (both Enterobacteriaceae and nil fermenters) whereas the increase in the resistance was not statistically significant in gram-positive cocci.

It can be easily seen that the level of antibiotic resistance has been increasing even in the community with the rampant injudicious use of antibiotics in humans as well as livestock. As the level of resistance to fosfomycin is still low in the community, it can play a promising role in the treatment of infection in patients with uncomplicated UTI.