Background: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are a common medical problem affecting the general population and thus commonly
encountered in medical practice, with the global burden of UTIs at about 150 million people. Because uropathogens
largely originate from colonic flora, they are easy to predict, and this is the rationale for empirical treatment in Community Acquired-
UTI (CA-UTIs). With the increasing prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria among adults with CA-UTI in Uganda, it is
no longer adequate to manage CA-UTIs on empiric regimen without revising the susceptibility patterns of common CA-UTI
causative agents. Thus in this study we set out to identify: The factors associated with CA-UTIs, the common uropathogens and
the drug sensitivity patterns of the common uropathogens cultured.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted in adults who presented with symptoms of a UTI at Mulago
Hospital, assessment center. There were 139 patients who consented to the study and were recruited, an interviewer administered
questionnaire was used to collect information from the study participants as regards demographic, social and clinical characteristics
and Mid Stream Urine (MSU) samples were collected for urinalysis, culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing using
the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique was applied to the isolates.Numeric data were summarized using measures of central
tendency while the categorical data was summarized using proportions and percentages.
Results: Age, female sex and marital status were factors that were significantly associated with CA-UTIs. Fifty four (54) cultures
were positive for UTI with 26 giving pure growths. The commonest uropathogen isolated was
Escherichia coli
at 50%, this was
followed by
Staphylococcus aureus
at 15.4%. The sensitivity of
Escherichia coli to Ampicillin and Nitrofurantoin were78.6%, 64.3%
respectively, and the sensitivity of
Staphylococcus aureus to ciprofloxacin, Nitrofurantoin and gentamycin were 100%, 66.7% and
66.7% respectively.
Conclusion: There are known factors associated with CA-UTIs such as age, female sex. There was generally high sensitivity
to nitrofurantoin and gentamycin by most of the uropathogens isolated, and high resistance to the common antibiotics such as
nalidixic acid and erythromycin thus a need for a bigger study that can be used to effect the change of the current recommendations
in the Uganda Clinical Guidelines as regards empirical management of CA-UTIs.
