Bacteriological profile of catheter associated urinary tract infection (cauti) among in-patients of a tertiary care medical college hospital in coimbatore

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common cause of Hospital Acquired infections (HAI) or Nosocomial infections. Indwelling Urinary Catheter associated urinary tract infections among hospital settings had become a potential source for drug resistance thereby increasing the morbidity and mortality especially in elder people and has now gained paramount importance in patient outcome. Purpose: To detect the prevalence of Catheter Associated Urinary tract Infection and to evaluate the bacterial etiology of Catheter Associated Urinary tract Infection. Methods: A total of 260 catheterized urine samples were subjected to culture and sensitivity by standard loop technique and the colonies were identified along with the susceptibility patterns and the results noted. Results: Out of 260 catheterized patients, 193 (74.23%) belonged to age group 18-80 years and 67 (25.77%) belonged to 0-17 years age group. Urine culture was positive in 52 out of total 260 samples (20%) which represent the prevalence of CAUTI. Culture positivity among age group 18-80 was 38 out of 193 (19.69%) and cultures were negative in 155 out of 193 patients (80.31%). Culture positivity among age group 0-17 years was 14 out of 67 (20.90%) patients and cultures were negative in 53 out of 67 patients (79.10%). The predominant organisms were found to be Escherichia coli (44.74%) in age group 18-80 followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris (10.53% each). Likewise the predominant organisms in 0-17 years age group was found to be Escherichia coli (42.86%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.42%). Conclusions: Prolonged Catheterization is an important risk factor for iatrogenic CAUTI. Escherichia coli are the most common pathogen causing CAUTI. Early diagnosis followed appropriate and timely therapeutic management is a gold standard to control these emerging high level drug resistant bugs producing ESBLs, Carbapenemase and etc. This can be achieved by having a dedicated infection control and a properly functioning institutional Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) team to monitor hospital surveillance to control nosocomial infection.