An audit of urine culture results at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in 1994-95 and 1999-2001.

Abstract

We conducted a retrospective audit of urine cultures at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), Blantyre. The aims of the audit were to determine the common organisms cultured from urine, in 1994-5 and in 1999-2001, and the sensitivity of these organisms to the first and second line drugs used in the management of urinary tract infection (UTI) in Malawi. A total of 401 samples were studied. One hundred and thirty- six of these grew isolates that were considered pathogenic. E. coli was isolated in 50% of the cultures. Isolates were sensitive to cotrimoxazole and nitrofurantoin (the recommended first-line treatments in Malawi) in only 13% and 48% of cultures, and sensitive to gentamicin in 40% and augmentin in 20% of cases. Levels of drug resistance did not differ between 1994 and 2001. Antibiotic policies for the management of UTI need to be reviewed in the light of the high isolate resistance to the two first line drugs used in the treatment of UTI in Malawi.


[Malawi Med J. Vol.14(1) 2002: 15-17]