antibiotic susceptibility patterns of uropathogens isolated from female patients with urinary tract infection in duhok province, iraq

Background: urinary tract infections (utis) are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide. the study of bacterial uropathogens in a local area and their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents is required to determine empirical therapy. objectives: this study aimed to assess the profile and antibiotic resistance patterns of bacteria, causing urinary infections isolated from female patients in duhok province, iraq. methods: a total of 530 urine samples were collected from females clinically suspected of utis over three years between january 2017 and february 2020. the samples were inoculated directly on macconkey and blood agar media and then incubated aerobically for 24 h at 37°c. samples that gave up colony counts of ≥ 10^5 cfu/ml were considered as positive growth. purified colonies were identified through standard bacteriological tests, and their susceptibility to different antibiotics was determined using the vitek2 system. results: out of 530 urine samples, 450 (84.9%) contained gramnegative bacteria, while the other 80 (15.1%) harbored grampositive bacteria. escherichia coli was the most common uropathogenic isolate (58.5%), followed by k. pneumoniae (14.3%), staphylococcus spp. (8.9%), p. mirabilis (6.6%), e. faecalis (3.2%), and s. agalactiae (3.02%). the majority of gramnegative uropathogens were resistant to ampicillin, aztreonam, ceftriaxone, and cefepime and around 95% were sensitive to ertapenem and imipenem. most grampositive isolates showed high resistance to benzylpenicillin, oxacillin, gentamicin, and erythromycin, and high susceptibility to linezolid, tigecycline, and nitrofurantoin. conclusions: it was concluded from this study that e. coli is the predominant pathogen causing utis in female patients in duhok province, iraq. there were increasing antibiotic resistance rates, particularly to ampicillin, aztreonam, ceftriaxone, benzylpenicillin, and erythromycin. therefore, empirical antibiotic therapy should be based on local sensitivity patterns rather than international guidelines.