PREVALENCE & ANTIBACTERIAL RESISTANCE OF ESBLs AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN WITH UTI

Urinary tract infection (UTI) remains the common infections diagnosed in outpatients as well as in hospitalized patients. Worldwide data show that there is an increasing resistance among urinary tract pathogens to conventional drugs.  Extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL) hydrolyse expanded spectrum cephalosporins like ceftazidime, cephotaxime which are used in the treatment of UTI.  ESBL-producers are not easily detected by the routine disk diffusion susceptibility test, and this result in the failure of treatments due to inappropriate use of antibiotics.  No information on ESBL producing organisms causing UTI is available from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.   Urinary isolates from symptomatic UTI cases attending or admitted to a hospital in Tiruchirappalli were identified by conventional methods.  Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by Kirby Bauer’s disc diffusion method.  Isolates resistant to cephotaxime were tested for ESBL production by double disc synergy test method.            Of the 936 isolates, 236 (25.2%) were found to be ESBL producers. In the present study, a large number of uropathogens were found to be ESBL producers.  Most of the ESBL producing isolates were multidrug resistant.  Careful detection of ESBL production and antimicrobial susceptibility testing are necessary to avoid treatment failure in patients with UTI.