The Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant Uropathogenic Bacterial Profile With Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns Among the Community and Hospitalized Patients During COVID Waves

Background and objective Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common infectious disease affecting people of various ages and genders and are prevalent in different geographical locations. However, the way Gram-positive and Gram-negative (UTI) germs react to antibiotic treatment varies significantly. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the frequency of secondary bacterial superinfection, leading to a spike in ongoing recommendations for antibiotic treatment, both therapeutic and preventative. In this study, we aimed to assess uropathogenic bacterial resistance and shed light on how COVID-19 epidemic waves influence the evolution of bacterial resistance. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, assessing the different isolates of the uropathogen in all COVID-19 waves by using convenience sampling from August 2020 till the end of 2023. The VITEK-2 compact system employing industry-standard bacteriological tests to identify the bacteria and confirm their antibiotic susceptibility was utilized. Results Of the total 3877 patients, 381 (9.8%) and 3483 (89.8%) had positive and negative microbial growth, respectively. Of the 381 (9.8%) positive cases, 130 (34%) were male and 251 (65%) were female; 138 (43.3%) patients in the age range of 15-40 years developed sporadic UTIs attributed to Gram-negative bacteria. Alternatively, patients over 40 years had the highest prevalence rate (n = 180, 56.6%). The most common strains of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria were and with 278 (88.8%) and 13 (20.9%) cases respectively. People with Gram-negative bacteria who were not hospitalized were very resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (n = 219, 69.1%), cefotaxime (n = 193, 60.9%), ampicillin (n = 192, 60.6%), and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (176, 55.5%). While high sensitivity to meropenem (n = 14, 4.4%) and imipenem (n = 13, 4.1%) was observed, hospitalized individuals had higher levels of resistance and great sensitivity to the same antibiotics. S. . were commonly present. Hospitalized patients were less sensitive to benzylpenicillin, ampicillin, and oxacillin, and there was a big rise in resistance to cefoxitin in the community. Conclusions In this study, Gram-negative germs among females were predominantly observed with extremely high multi-drug resistance (MDR). The most effective antibiotics against Gram-positive germs included linezolid, vancomycin, and nitrofurantin, while those against Gram-negative bacter