Antibiotic susceptibility and drug prescription pattern in uropathogenic Escherichia coli in district Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.

The present research study was done to determine the correlation between antibiotic susceptibility and drug prescription patterns in empirical treatment of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) in two hospitals of district Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. One hundred uropathogenic E. coli clinical isolates were collected from UTI patients who attended the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), district Muzaffarabad, AJK. All isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility against seven commonly prescribed antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. However, all the E. coli isolates were susceptible to Imipenem. Eight percent and 10% of isolates from CMH and AIMS were found to be resistant against Nitrofurantoin drug respectively. Similarly, 94% and 74% isolates from CMH and 60% and 64% isolates from AIMS were found to be resistant against Co-trimoxazole and Coamoxiclave, respectively. Pipemedic acid resistance was also detected in 76% and 60% isolates from AIMS and CMH, respectively. Ciprofloxacin resistance was also observed in 54% and 36% isolates from AIMS and CMH, respectively. The finding of the study revealed that both hospitals have different drug susceptibility pattern against uropathogenic E. coli, which may be associated with patterns of drug prescription in empirical treatment of urinary tract infections. There is a vital need for appropriate development of hospital-specific antibiograms to determine appropriate empiric therapy of urinary tract infections.