Trimethoprim-resistant Escherichia coli in a geriatric hospital

A total of 1751 strains of Escherichia coli was collected from the Turku City Hospital in 1981-1982. Of these, 81 per cent were from patients aged 65 years or more. Total trimethoprim resistance was about 22 per cent of strains studied. There was a significant difference between the trimethoprim resistance of strains from those patients with a urinary tract catheter (38 per cent) and those without such a catheter (13.4 per cent) (P less than 0.001).