catheter-associated urinary tract infections at a hospital in zinvie, benin (west africa)

Background: urinary tract infections are one of the most common nosocomial infections. they are progressively becoming a serious and very recurrent public health problem in africa. with respect to the limited data available on this situation in benin, the present study was conducted. objectives: its objective was to determine the prevalence of the urinary tract infections among catheterized patients at a hospital in zinvie (benin). patients and methods: this prospective crosssectional study was conducted on 60 inpatients from the services of emergencies, medicine and surgery of the hospital. urine was collected twice per patient: 10 minutes and 48 hours after the insertion of the catheter. all urine samples were subjected to bacteriological analyses. the sensitivity of bacteria isolates was tested with prescribed antibiotics in the hospital. hygiene practices during catheterization were recorded by direct observation using a checklist. results: two days later, (48 hours after the catheterization), 14 patients out of 60 (23.33%) presented with a urinary infection, of which 1 patient (1.66%) was already infected before the process. gramnegative bacteria were the most isolated bacteria (79%), with escherichia coli as the most identified species (63%) followed by pseudomonas spp. (11%) and acinetobacter spp. (5%). grampositive cocci isolates were essentially staphylococcus aureus (21%). all bacteria isolates were multidrug resistant. conclusions: only a few number of health workers do respect hygiene rules before and after catheterization. therefore, it is necessary to train health workers involved in such activities on good hygiene practices during catheterization.