Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTI) account for a significant proportion of cases of unexplained febrile illnesses in children which are often treated with different broad-spectrum antibiotics when one with a narrow spectrum of activity may be appropriate. This study has been undertaken to know the prevalence of UTIs in febrile children (1-5 years age) and to study the antibiotic sensitivity pattern in pediatric community-acquired UTI. Material and Methods: A Hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive study was done in children of age 1 -5 years presenting with complaints of fever without any localizing signs in tertiary care hospital over a period of 1 year. Urine samples were collected under aseptic conditions and analysed by urine culture for UTI and antibiotic sensitivity testing was done in all culture-positive cases. Results: The overall prevalence of UTI in this study was 10.4 %. Escherichia coli was the commonest bacterial isolate from culture urine specimens accounting for 43.4%, followed by Klebsiella species at 39.1%. The frequency of isolated bacterial pathogens resistance was observed to be high against amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ceftriaxone, and cotrimoxazole and sensitivity was high for the aminoglycoside group of drugs. Conclusion: UTI is a significant cause of fever without focus and Urine Culture & Sensitivity is the gold standard test to confirm UTI. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia are the most common organisms causing UTI in children in the community setting. High resistance to cotrimoxazole, amoxiclav, and cephalosporins group of drugs by all isolated pathogens was observed in this study. Amikacin was the most active agent against all isolated bacteria in this Study.

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