Drug susceptibility patterns of extended spectrum β -lactamase producing Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are the causative agent of urinary tract infections. Emergence of drug resistance in E. coli is serious threat to public health. Production of ESBL is one of the common drug resistance mechanisms which limit the use of β-lactam drugs and affect the disease control strategy. This study was undertaken to isolate and analyze antibiotic susceptibility patterns of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli causing urinary tract infections. A total of 310 urine samples were collected from different wards of tertiary care hospital of Peshawar, Pakistan. E. coli was identified in 144 samples, among them 44 (30.55%) were ESBL producing. Among them ESBL was detected 8(18.18%) in male and 36(81.81%) in female. After screening 50 samples from OPD for ESBL producing E. coli, only 12 samples were ESBL producing E. coli. Furthermore, antibiotic susceptibility patterns of ESBL showed increased sensitivity towards meropenem (97.72%) and imipenem (95.45%) followed by amikacin (86.36%) and pipracillin/tazobactum (72.52%). While increased resistance to nalidixic acid (93.15%) and norfloxacin (86.31%) was shown in ESBL. Antimicrobial sensitivity revealed that ESBL producing E. coli from the urine sample possessed increased resistance against commonly used antibiotics. Findings from the current study will be helpful to design appropriate hospital antibiotic policy to minimize the emergence of drug resistance.