Prevalence and Multi-Drug Resistance Patterns of Uropathogenic E.coli isolated from Women Patients in Kirkuk city, Iraq

 E.coli is a member of Enterobacteriaceae family and gram negative bacilli. Many genus of bacteria can caused urinary tract infection. In fact, uropathogenic E.coli is responsible of 80 - 90% of urinary tract infections in the global. This study was proceeded to determine the prevalence rate of uropathogenic E.coli isolated from Women Patients and study the multi-drug resistance patterns of these isolates, in Kirkuk city, Iraq.

 Collection of 200 Urine samples from women patients with different ages were achieved over a period January to May 2022, from women's and children's Hospital in Kirkuk city, Iraq. Then inoculated on , Nutrient, MacConkey and blood agar and incubated for 24 hours at 37°C. E.coli colonies were identified by culturing and biochemical tests, then antibiotic susceptibility of these isolates were done.

The prevalence of bacterial positive growth was 132(66%), distributed as the following: E.coli 47(35.6%), S.aureus 37(28.03%), Staphylococcus spp. 9(6.81), Proteus mirabilis 9(6.81), Klebsiella sp. 9(6.81), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 7(5.3%), Streptococcus spp. 7(5.3%), Acinetobacter baumannii 4(3%) and shigella spp. 3(2.27%). Most of E.coli isolates were isolated from women patients with age group 18-38 years. Meropenem is showed the highest effect with no resistant E. coli isolates followed by Amikacin, Ciprofloxacin, Azithromycin, Levofloxacin, Trimethoprim and Nitrofurantoin (10.63%,19.14%,19.14%, 31.91%, 38.29% and 38.29)respectively. In contrast to Augmentin, which revealed no effect towards these isolates with 100% resistance followed by Ceftazidime, Rifampicin and Ceftriaxone (78.72%, 72.34%and 59.57%) respectively. The current data revealed that the isolates were multidrug resistance to four, five, six and seven antimicrobial classes : 18(38.29%), 15(31.91%), 9(19.14%), and 5(10.63%) of E. coli  isolates, respectively.

 The sensitivity of all E. coli isolates towards meropenem, calls for attention that the overuse/misuse of this antibiotic will caused the selection pressure and increased the rate of resistance.