| Abstract: | Clinical background was investigated on patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs) from whom 785 bacterial strains were isolated in 11 hospitals during the period from June, 1995 through May, 1996. 1. Distributions of age and sex of patients and type of infections. Among the patients examined, those with ages 50 years or older were the most frequent (males: 80.5%, females: 69.7%), and, among females, those with ages in the 20's were 12.6%. With regard to types of infections, more than a half of infections among males were of complicated types, but most of infections among females were of uncomplicated types, especially among females of ages less than 60 years. 2. Ages of patients and types of pathogens. The higher the ages of patients, the lesser became the isolation frequencies of Proteus spp. and Serratia spp., but the higher were those of Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas spp. 3. Effect of antibiotic use on isolation frequencies of pathogens. Use of antibiotics decreased pathogens isolated from patients with uncomplicated UTIs drastically (237 isolates before antibiotics compared to 33 after). Even isolated pathogens from patients with complicated UTIs decreased drastically with the use of antibiotics when indwelling catheters were not in use (200 isolates before antibiotics compared to 83 after), but when indwelling catheters were in use, antibiotics apparently failed to decrease the isolation frequency. 4. Surgical procedures and types of causative organisms for UTIs. Escherichia coli was the most frequently isolated organism from uncomplicated cases of UTIs. From cases of complicated UTIs without indwelling catheters, Enterococcus faecalis was the most frequently isolated, followed by E. coli, P. aeruginosa and Klebsiella spp. When a surgical procedures were not done, E. coli was isolated most frequently. From cases of complicated UTIs with indwelling catheters, P. aeruginosa, E. faecalis and S. aureus were the organisms that were mainly isolated, with isolation frequencies of 23.9%, 17.3% and 12.7%, respectively. When no surgical procedures were used, isolation frequencies of P. aeruginosa, Klebsiella spp. and E. faecalis were 25.7%, 14.3% and 14.3%, respectively. |
