surveillance of antibiotic resistance among uropathogens in aljouf region northern saudi arabia

Background and objectives: urinary tract infections are common health problem affecting millions worldwide. antibiotic resistance among uropathogens (ups) is prevalent in many countries. in the absence of any available data in the region, this hospitalbased study investigated the pattern, frequency and susceptibility of ups at prince mutaib bin abdulaziz hospital, aljouf region, saudi arabia. materials and methods: a retrospective assessment of ups and their antibiotics susceptibility was conducted from january 2017 to december 2017 using the fully automated vitek2 system (biomérieux, france). results: among the 415 uropathogens isolates, the most prevalent bacteria were gramnegatives comprising 137 (51%) e. coli; 46 (17.2%) klebsiella spp.; 30 (11.2%) pseudomonas spp.; 25 (9.3%) proteus spp.; 14 (5.2%) acinetobacter baumanii and 16 (5.9%) others. on the other hand, enterococcus spp. were predominant among grampositive isolates representing 54 (36.7%), 47 (32.0%) staphylococcus spp., 22 (15.1%) streptococcus spp., and 13 (8.8%) s. aureus, and 11 (7.5%) others. gramnegative ups showed multidrug resistance towards the majority of the tested antimicrobials (ampicillins, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole, fosfomycin, aztreonam, and nitrofurantoin). while high resistance patterns by grampositives was also seen against cephalosporins, penicillins, amoxicillinclavulanic acid, trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, erythromycin and tetracycline. conclusion: the observed widespread multidrug resistance clearly warrant implementing stricter control measures, local guidelines of antimicrobials usage, and continuous epidemiological surveys at hospitals and communities.