A Retrospective Cross-sectional Survey on Urinary Tract Infections in a Non-hospital Medical Laboratory

Background and Aim: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) that influence millions of humans yearly are still among the most common infections in the community and hospitals. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of UTIs and their antibiotic resistance susceptibility in patients in Qazvin province, northwest Iran, from 2017 to 2019. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 3521 urine samples of patients referred to a non-hospital medical laboratory (Mehr) between April 2017 and January 2019. Samples were collected and processed immediately for laboratory analysis. Biochemical tests were conducted the bacteria identification, and the antibiotic susceptibility test of the bacterial isolates was determined using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion. Results & Conclusion: 347 of the 3521 urine samples had significant bacteriuria, with a prevalence of 9.9 %. Escherichia coli occurred more frequently (54.4 %), while Pseudomonas aeruginosa had the lowest frequency of occurrence (1.4 %) in the samples. Nitrofurantoin and Amikacin were the most effective antibiotics against gram-negative and positive, respectively. This study revealed that bacterial resistance in UTIs continues to be a great problem and needs drug resistance surveillance periodically.