Urinary tract infection and antibiotic susceptibility in malnourished children

Abstract

In this study, 31 (30%) cases of urinary tract infection(UTI) of 103 patients with malnutrition, who were admitted to ourhospital, were investigated prospectively. Our purpose was to determinethe frequency of UTI, species of bacteria caused toinfection and their antibiotic susceptibility in infants withmalnutrition. The mean age of the patients with UTI was 11.5 ±7.6 months (ranging 50 days-30 months). The main symptoms were fever,vomiting, diarrhea, cough, and seizures. The mean body weight was 5.8± 1.9 kg (2–10 kg), and height was 67.5 ± 7.8 cm(58–85 cm). Seven of them had mild, 11 had moderate, and 13 hadsevere malnutrition. The most common isolated microorganism from urinecultures was Escherichia coli (54.8%). Most strains ofEscherichia coli were resistant to co-trimoxazole(82.3%), ceftriaxone (17.6%), cefotaxime (17.6%),and ciprofloxacine (17.6%), but none of them were resistant togentamicin. In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that UTIpredominantly by gram negative microorganisms are frequent in theinfants with malnutrition, and these microorganisms are mostly resistantto co-trimoxazole which is used commonly in practical medicine andprophylaxis.