Uropathogens from diabetic patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria and Urinary tract infections

Abstract

Urinary tract infections occur more frequently in diabetic than in non-diabetic patients and have been proven to be the primary cause of renal failure in diabetics. This study was to investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) and urinary tract infections (UTIs) in clinically diagnosed patients with diabetes and to determine the uropathogens responsible for ASB and UTIs as well as their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. One hundred and twenty five diabetic patients comprising 69 (55.2%) females and 56 (44.8%) males attending the Buea and Limbe Regional Hospital Diabetic Clinics, South West Region, Cameroon were studied. Midstream urine samples were collected from the study participants. The midstream urine samples were examined macroscopically, microscopically, and culturally using standard techniques on different agar cultures. Uropathogens isolated included E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fungal isolates . Isolates were tested against commonly used antibiotics and antifungals. Asymptomatic bacteriuria had a prevalence of 47.2% and urinary tract infections (UTIs) a prevalence of 34.4%. Isolates showed high resistance to ciprofloxacin (61.3%), ceftriaxone (70.1%), amoxicillin (96.2%), nystatin (72.3%) and ketoconazole (51.8%). We came to the conclusion that a high prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and UTIs was observed in both male and female diabetic patients in Cameroon. Improvement on management of diabetes mellitus and personal hygiene, as well as the appropriate use of duly prescribed antibiotic/antifungals would reduce prevalence of ASB and UTIs and hence prevent renal complications.