Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

The pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility among urinary tract bacterial pathogens and the associated resistance profile

Lorina Ineta Badger-Emeka¹ , Promise M Emeka²

¹Department of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology Division, College of Medicine; ²Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.

For correspondence:- Lorina Badger-Emeka Email: lbadgeremeka@kfu.edu.sa

Received: 23 March 2025 Accepted: 12 May 2025 Published: 31 May 2025

Citation: Badger-Emeka LI, Emeka PM. The pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility among urinary tract bacterial pathogens and the associated resistance profile. Trop J Pharm Res 2025; 24(5):687-701 doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v24i5.7

© 2025 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: The global trend in disease burden due to bacterial infections of urinary tract is on the rise, thus necessitating continual surveillance.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-seven (167) bacterial isolates of urinary tract infections collected between 2014 and 2020 were explored. Their identification (IDs) confirmation, antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were determined using Vitek Compact 2 (BioMerieux, Marcy L’Etoile, France. Results were computed and analyzed using GraphPad Prism version 10.4.1 (627).

Results: The pathogens were mainly Escherichia coli (52 %), Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.56 %) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.77 %). Others include Proteus mirabilis (6 %), Enterobacter species (4.79 %), Providencia stuartii (2.39%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (2.39 %). Source of isolation was significantly (p < 0.0001) more from urine (82 %) than from catheter tip samples (18 %). Significantly more of the pathogens were multidrug-resistant (MDR; 59 %) than were susceptible strains (SS; 22.1 %) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR; 18.5%), with results varying among bacterial species. While E. coli strains were sensitive to three antimicrobials (imipenem, tigecycline and colistin), K. pneumoniae was highly resistant to the tested antibiotics including colistin (55.56 %), but with a reduction in resistance to ticarcillin (15 %), meropenem (19.44 %), gentamicin (22.22 %), and aztreonam (44.44 %).

Conclusion: The findings of this study show that E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa continue to be troublesome UTI pathogens, progressing from MDR to XDR. Therefore, previously considered gold-standard antibiotics used in treating UTIs might remain the choice drugs for much longer as seen from the results of this study

Keywords: Urinary tract infections, UTIs, Antimicrobial resistance, Antibiotics, ESBLs, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae