Recurrent Bacteria Involvement in Urinary Tract Infection among Diabetic Female Patients of Sukkur, Sindh

Background: Diabetics are four times more prone to develop Urinary tract infection when compared to healthy individuals, the proposed risk factors behind this increase in susceptibility in diabetics are autonomic neuropathy resulting in incomplete emptying of bladder and glucose in urine which serves as a medium for bacterial growth. The aims of our study are to identify the frequency of recurrent UTI and to document most common prevalent organisms involved in UTI in diabetic females in tertiary care hospital of Sukkur.

Methodology: It was a cross sectional study conducted at Microbiology Department of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur from January to December 2020. The sample size n=54 was calculated by open epi software. Participants who contented inclusion criteria i.e., female patients of age >18 years with diabetes mellitus for more than 5 years who were presented in OPD with UTI along with history of three positive urine cultures in the previous 12 months or two episodes in the last six months were recruited by simple random sampling technique. The urine samples were collected in sterile containers and the growth of organisms was observed on nutrient agar and MacConkey agar plates.

Results: There was no any significant difference among occurrence of bacteria between both the groups i.e . However, the most associated microbes with uncontrolled HbA1c profile were E. coli (p-value = 0.004) followed by Micrococcus lutes (p-value = 0.021) and Shigella (p-value = 0.001). Table 1. Shows the frequency and percentages of bacteria associated with controlled and uncontrolled HbA1c levels.

Conclusion: Most of the participants had uncontrolled diabetic profile i.e. HbA1c > 7, the prominent pathogen at our setting were E. Coli, Enterococcus species, Shigella species and Micrococcus lutes.