Background and purpose: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common complications of diabetes. Asymptomatic bacteriuria or frequent symptomatic urinary tract infection are common in diabetic patients. Study of bacterial factors of UTI in these patients and the antibiotic resistance pattern and resistant strains are necessary.
Materials and methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 302 urine samples of diabetic patients attending Sari diabetes clinic (in 2015) were used. The specimens were cultured in Blood agar and McConkey and incubated at 37° C for 24 hours. Biochemical tests were done to identify the pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic susceptibility test was carried out by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion.
Results: Among the samples, 22.5% were positive for urinary tract infections including 76.4%
of the females’ samples and 32.6% of males’ samples. The most prevalent bacteria isolated were
group B Streptococcus (25%). According to antibiogram testing, the most sensitive antibiotic was chloramphenicol (70%) while cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and ciprofloxacin were found to be highly resistant.
Conclusion: The study showed that the third generations of cephalosporins commonly used in treatment of UTI are not appropriate in diabetic patients. So, Chloramphenicol is recommended for treatment of these patients.