High incidence of resistant pathogens in community acquired bacteriuria from patients in the Jerusalem area with lower urinary tract infections

Lower urinaty tract infections are among the most common bacterial infections encountered in community practice. The diagnosis is made on a clinical basis, and the treatment provided is therefore empirical. In order to characterize the uropathogens and their antimicrobial susceptability, we have screened posive urine cultures which were isolated from patients in Jerusalem area with symptoms suggesting lower urinary tract infection. We found that, similar to other communities, E. coli is still the most common uropathogen (66.1%) in the Jerusalem area. The antibiotic susceptibility was (for women and men respectively) 29.8%, 25.1% for ampicillin, 51.6%, 41.1% for cephalexin, 86%, 78% for nitrofurantoin, 67%, 54% for TMP-SMX, 62.9%, 49.3% for amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, 92.8%, 77.2% for gentamicin, 88.8%, 64.4% for cefuroxime and 91.4%, 71.7% for ciprofloxacin. According to the above antimicrobial susceptability nitrofurantoin can be recommended for empirical treatment of lower urinary infections in women while in men, non E Coli pathogens were more common and more effective drugs such as cefuroxime and quinolones were needed.