Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli from urine of patients with suspected urinary tract infections accessing Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, Nigeria

The wide use of antibiotics to treat urinary tract infection (UTIs) caused by bacteria is compromised by the development of resistance mechanisms in bacteria. This study evaluated the antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli from urine of patients with suspected UTI in Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, Nigeria. Four hundred urine samples of suspected UTI patients were collected and E. coli was isolated and identified using standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for the isolates was carried out and interpreted as described by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The occurrence of the bacterium was 14.5 % (58/400). The occurrence was higher in female (15.8 %) than the male (12.5 %); and highest at > 50 years (31.8 %). The isolates were more resistant to ampicillin (79.3 %), streptomycin (62.0 %) and cefoxitin (58.6 %) but less resistant to gentamicin (15.8 %), imipenem (18.9 %) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (27.6 %). The occurrence of multi-drug resistance (MDR) isolates was 87.9%. The antibiotics namely gentamicin, imipenem and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid were very effective against the isolates and most of the isolates were MDR. There is thus a need for the hospital to limit its antibiotic use in the light of these observations.