Assessment of Urinary Tract Infection in Symptomatic Geriatric Patients in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria.

Abstract

Urinary tract infections are one of the most prevalent infectious diseases presented in medical care facilities as well as community settings. The elderly have increased risk of developing urinary tract infection (UTI) with attendant morbidities and complications.This study was aimed at investigating the UTI prevalence of geriatric (≥65years) patients, their aetiological agents andantimicrobial susceptibility pattern. The study was conducted on urine samplesfrom150geriatric patients in PortHarcourt metropolis, Nigeria. The samples were inoculated onto MacConkey Agar and Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient (CLED) agar. Isolates were identified based on colonial morphology, Gram staining and Biochemical characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed on the bacterial isolates using Mueller-Hinton agar (Oxiod, United Kingdom) according to standard techniques. This study revealed that fifty 50 (33.3%) had UTI. The age group (80-89years) had the highest prevalence of UTI (12.6%) followed by (70years to 79years) which had (10.7%) and the lowest was (65years to 69years) with UTI prevalence of (10%). The bacterial isolates were poorly susceptible to all the antimicrobial agents used. Escherichia coli (38%) was the predominant bacterial uropathogen, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (32%), Klebsiella pnuemoniae (20%) and Protues mirabilis (10%) which had the lowest. In addition, this study revealed that the females had a higher prevalence of UTI (19.3%) than the males (14%). This study revealed that UTI in the geriatrics is a serious challenge in our locality. Extensive use of antibiotics in the geriatric have been implicated as likely reason for harboring resistant flora. Therefore, the rational use of antibiotics to is advocated to curtail the fast-rising increase of antimicrobial resistance and improve outcome.