Bacterial Pathogens of Urinary Tract in Diabetic patients at Tishreen University Hospital

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in diabetic patients are more severe and frequent than in others, with more serious potential complications. Our study aims to investigate the bacterial uropathogens in this group in order to avoid random treatments and the resulting possibility of treatment failure and exacerbation of bacterial resistance to used antibiotics, and therefore, maintaining the patients' lifestyle and reducing the economic burden. The study was conducted in the period between October (2021) and June (2022) during which 386 urine samples were collected from diabetic patients attending Tishreen University Hospital in Lattakia city - Syria. The results of urine culture showed that 184 diabetic patients (of both sexes) had a urinary tract infection, with a percentage of 47.66%, where infections were higher in females (74.46%) than in males (25.54%), With a higher rate of infection in patients older than 55 years. E. coli was the most common uropathogen and was found in 45.65% of the isolates, followed by S. aureus (18.48%), Streptococcus species (10.33%), Enterobacter (8.15%), P. aeruginosa (6.52%), and K. pneumoniae (4.35%). The isolated uropathogens were resistant to the most of the commonly used antibiotics. Meropenem and imipenem were the most effective antibiotics against most of Gram-negative bacteria, as is the case of E. coli, which showed high sensitivity levels to both of them, followed by nitrofurantoin, amikacin, and ampicillin/sulbactam. As for Gram-positive bacteria, staphylococci showed the highest sensitivity levels to amikacin, followed by imipenem and vancomycin, whereas Streptococci spp. were primarily sensitive to meropenem, followed by nitrofurantoin.