Microbiology, Biotechnology and Genetics: Principles and Interconnections Vol. 1

Urinary tract infections and antimicrobial resistance present ongoing clinical concerns among individuals with and without diabetes. This study assessed the antimicrobial resistance patterns of bacterial isolates from subjects attending Eleme General Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria. A case–control study included diabetic and non-diabetic participants irrespective of urinary tract infection symptoms. In total, 300 early-morning midstream urine specimens were collected and examined using culture, biochemical identification and antimicrobial disc diffusion methods. Eleven antimicrobial agents were assessed, and selected multidrug-resistant isolates were investigated for extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) genes. The study reported 95 bacterial isolates, corresponding to an overall bacteriuria occurrence of 31.7%. Of these, 51 (53.7%) were associated with symptomatic bacteriuria and 44 (46.3%) with asymptomatic bacteriuria. The isolates comprised 71 Gram-negative and 24 Gram-positive bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently recovered species overall, while Klebsiella aerogenes occurred most frequently among diabetic subjects in the reported species distribution. Imipenem and ofloxacin showed relatively high susceptibility across several isolate groups, although susceptibility varied by organism and antibiotic. Of 20 isolates examined for ESBL genes, 17 (85%) carried the investigated genes, including TEM, SHV and CTX-M. These findings describe organism-specific resistance patterns in the hospital population and underscore the relevance of microbiological identification and susceptibility testing when evaluating bacterial urinary tract infections.