Incidence and Susceptibility Patterns of Urine Bacterial Flora in Young Saudi Females

Abstract

It has been established that the urinary tract is not sterile; however, research related to the study of urinary bacteria is limited. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and patterns of resistance of normal urinary aerobic bacterial flora and clean catch midstream urine specimens collected from 120 young healthy females and cultured. Bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility were performed using the Biomérieux VITEK® 2 automated system. Participants who had undergone antimicrobial treatment within one month were not included. The incidence of positive bacterial cultures was 54.2%, of which 21.5% were polymicrobial. Approximately 107 bacterial isolates that encompass 12 genera and 27 species that were predominated by gram-positive bacteria (72%) were cultivated. Staphylococcaceae (46.1%) and Enterobacteriaceae (17.8%) were the most frequent isolates among gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, respectively, of which 36 species have been identified as β-lactamase producers. The top four frequently isolated bacteria were Micrococcus spp. (16%), Staphylococcus haemolyticus (13.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (10%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (10%). Twenty-two bacterial species were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using broad- and narrow-spectrum antibiotics and antimicrobials, which showed the lowest susceptibility rate against gram-positive bacteria, followed by erythromycin and azithromycin. A lower antimicrobial susceptibility potential among gram-negative bacteria was observed against ampicillin, followed by piperacillin and cefotaxime. Our findings emphasize the importance of highlighting urine bacterial flora in studies, especially those related to susceptibility patterns, by employing more advanced culture methods as multiple drug-resistant bacteria were isolated.