Antibiotic-Resistant Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated from Children with Congenital Abnormalities of the Kidneys and Urinary Tract

Abstract

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a serious health problem worldwide. UPEC's multiple drug resistance combined with virulence factors is a cause of serious concern. In childhood, urinary tract infections are of particular importance, since they can occur against the background of long-term unrecognized congenital anomalies of the kidneys and urinary tract. Of the 106 UPEC clinical isolates, 63.2% of cultures were isolated from girls' urine samples and 36.8% from boys' urine samples, which corresponds to a 1.7: 1 ratio. The antibiotic resistance of the isolated UPEC cultures was assessed in relation to 12 antimicrobial drugs. Among the tested cultures, 49% were multidrug-resistant and 20.75% were found to be resistant to imipenem. Phenotypic analysis of antibiotic susceptibility spectrum of uropathogenic E.coli (n=106) indicates a high percentage of occurrence of multi-resistant UPEC strains (49%) and imipenem-resistant UPEC strains (20.75%) among children of all age groups.