PRESCRIBING AND SENSITIVITY PATTERNS OF ANTIMICROBIALS IN UNCOMPLICATED URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS IN FEMALES

The overuse and misuse of antibiotics have been related to growing emergence of bacterial resistance worldwide. The aim of this present study was to detect the causative agents of urinary tract infection, assess the pattern of antimicrobial prescription along with the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern.Patient information was obtained by interviewing the patients and through their medical record files. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was performed by disc diffusion.The study showed that UTI was mostly prevalent in females of age group 20-30. Escherichia coli were the predominant (64.4%) bacterial pathogen followed by Klebsiellaspecies (13.3%), Pseudomonas species (3.8%) and others.Most of the strains of E. coli were resistant to cephalexin whereas sensitive to cefpodoxime, amikacin, gentamycin and nitrofurantoin. Most of the urinary isolates showed high degree of resistance to cephalexin, norfloxacin and nalidixic acid.A single antibiotic was most commonly prescribed in both the hospitals, however, more than three antibiotics were also found to be prescribed.This study revealed that E. coli was the predominant bacterial pathogen of uncomplicated UTIs in both hospitals. It also demonstrated an increasing resistance to cephalexin, norfloxacin and nalidixic acid. Thus, formulation of a policy for hospital antibiotic use is a must for proper use of antibiotics and to ensure safe and efficient treatment of UTIs. Keywords: UTI, Escherichia coli,cephalexin, prescribing, sensitivit