| dc.description.abstract | Antibiotic resistance is a major concern among
cancer patients. This study was carried out to
assess the microbial spectrum and the antibiotic
susceptibility pattern (ABST) of bacteria isolated
from urine of cancer patients. The variations in the
susceptibility pattern with catheterization and the
type of cancer were also evaluated. A prospective
study was conducted at Apeksha Hospital,
Maharagama from September to November 2017,
where 202 cases of positive urine cultures were
analysed. The spectrum of isolated organisms
consisted mainly of Coliforms (70.3%) followed
by Pseudomonas spp. (11.4%), Enterococcus spp.
(9.9%), Staphylococcus spp., (4%), Streptococcus
spp. (2%) and Acinetobacter spp. (2%). The
analysis of ABST patterns of these isolates
revealed alarmingly high rates of resistance to
most of the antibiotics tested. Coliforms isolated
were highly resistant (Sensitivity<50%) to all
the 1st line antibiotics except Nitrofurantoin
(59.3% sensitive). They were susceptible to 2nd
line antibiotics namely Netilmicin, Amikacin,
Imipenem and Meropenem. The ABST pattern
of Pseudomonas spp. isolated also showed
remarkably high rates of resistance to all the
antibiotics tested. They demonstrated low
sensitivity to commonly administered antibiotics
like Gentamicin (only 41.2% sensitive) and
Ciprofloxacin (only 33.3% sensitive). Among
the antibiotics tested for Enterococcus spp.,
Ampicillin (78.9%) showed very high level of
resistance while Nitrofurantoin, Vancomycin and
Teicoplanin proved to be comparatively effective.
Of theEnterococcus spp., 20% were resistant to
Vancomycin. Catheterization and the type of
cancer did not significantly affect the microbial
spectrum in this population, yet it influenced the
level of resistance. | en_US |
