URINARY-TRACT PATHOGENS AND ANTIMICROBIAL SENSITIVITY PATTERNS IN CHILDREN IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

A study of bacterial organisms isolated from 65 Nigerian children who had urinary tract infection (UTI) is reported. The predominant isolate in both inpatients and outpatients was Klebsiella species which accou nted for 52.8% of cases. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp and Proteus spp accounted for 25.0%, 15.3% and 5.5% of isolates, respectively. Al l isolates were poorly sensitive to the common first-line drugs used i n UTI in our environment, namely, contrimoxazole and ampicillin, but e xhibited good sensitivity to nalidixic acid, nitrofurantoin and ofloxa cin. It is recommended that nitrofurantoin and nalidixic acid be used for blind treatment of UTI in Nigerian children in Ibadan while result s of culture and sensitivity are awaited. Continuous monitoring of the pattern of organisms isolated in childhood UTI and their antibiotic r esistance patterns is recommended as an essential step in guiding blin d antibiotic therapy in such cases.