Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens associated with urological disorders poses a challenge to effective antimicrobial therapy. Determining local antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) profiles is important for understanding the resistance burden among bacterial isolates recovered from affected patients. The study determined the antibiogram of bacteria isolated from patients with urological disorders at selected tertiary health facilities in Port Harcourt, Niger. A total of 142 bacterial isolates recovered from 252 patients with urological disorders, were evaluated. The isolates comprised Klebsiella spp. (n=73), Staphylococcus aureus (n=41), coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) (n=8), Serratia marcescens (n=6), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=6), Enterobacter spp. (n=6), and Escherichia coli (n=2). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method on Mueller–Hinton agar, with results classified as susceptible, intermediate, or resistant. MAR indices were determined for the bacterial isolates. Substantial variation in antimicrobial susceptibility was observed among the bacterial isolates. S. aureus demonstrated its highest susceptibility to chloramphenicol (56.1%), followed by vancomycin (51.2%), while resistance was highest to co-trimoxazole (68.3%). Klebsiella spp. showed marked resistance to nitrofurantoin (84.9%), meropenem (82.2%), augmentin (82.2%), ceftriaxone (72.6%) and cefepime (68.5%). Both E. coli isolates were resistant to meropenem, ceftriaxone, co-trimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and amikacin but were susceptible to nitrofurantoin. P. aeruginosa showed complete resistance to gentamicin and cefepime. MAR indices greater than 0.2 occurred in 98.6% of Klebsiella spp. and 90.2% of S. aureus isolates, with elevated MAR profiles also observed among CoNS, S. marcescens, E. coli and P. aeruginosa. The findings demonstrate a substantial antimicrobial resistance burden among bacterial isolates recovered from patients with urological disorders, characterized by high resistance to several commonly tested antimicrobial agents and elevated MAR indices. Routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing and continued resistance surveillance are therefore important in the management of these infections.