Effectiveness of achievable urinary concentrations of tetracyclines against "tetracycline-resistant" pathogenic bacteria.

Hospitalized patients with urinary tract infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa or other bacterial pathogens are frequently treated with parenteral antibiotics such as gentamicin. Many of these organisms are shown by Kirby-Bauer disk sensitivity testing to be resistant to tetracycline. One hundred seventy-one such tetracycline-resistant bacterial isolates were studied; 84% were found to be sensitive to achievable urinary concentrations of tetracycline. Two patients with long-standing chronic urinary tract infection with Pseudomonas were treated with tetracycline for a year and a half with excellent results. In a pilot clinical trial, eight of 12 hospitalized patients with urinary tract infection were treated successfully with tetracycline without regard to disk sensitivity data. Institution of tetracycline as soon as the microscopic diagnosis of urinary tract infection is made might be an acceptable empiric approach to the treatment of urinary infection in hospitalized patients who do not show evidence of sepsis.