Frequency and antimicrobial resistance pattern of pathogens implicated in urinary tract infection at a hospital in Tehran

Purpose: urinary tract infection is acommon infectious presentation in the community practice. it is also the most common cause of antimicrobial resistance in the society. the aim of this study was to investigate the frequencyand antimicrobial resistance pattern of the uropathogens isolated from patients with urinary tract infection. materials and methods: this study was conducted on the patients with urinary tract infectionat a hospital in tehran from march 2010 to march 2013.mid-stream urine samples were collected in sterile disposable containers. then, specimens weretransferred to 5%blood agar and eosine- methylene blue (emb).identification of uropathogens was done on the basis of gram reaction, morphologyand biochemical features. antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed according to clinical and laboratory standards institute (clsi) guidelines. results: a total of 8200 urine samples (545 inpatients and 850 outpatients) were collected and 1395 uropathogens wererecovered from them. most of the pathogens were more prevalent in women. gram-negative bacteria (81.8%) were the main cause of urinary tract infection. escherichia coli (60.5%) was the predominant pathogen associated with urinary tract infection, while pseudomonas aeruginosa(0.3%)had the least occurrence.escherichia coli isolatesshowed high resistance to ceftriaxone, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin and high sensitivity to nitrofurantoin, amikacin and gentamicin. conclusion: antimicrobial resistance is becoming a big challenge for the public health with significant morbidity and health costs. therefore it seems that a periodic monitoring of etiologic agents of urinary tract infection and their susceptibility pattern in the community is necessary.