Fosfomycin—A Promising Oral Antibiotic for the Treatment of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

Abstract

Background: Among the common morbid causes that are prevalent among all age groups, urinary tract infections top the list. In our country, most of the UTI patients visiting hospitals (OPD or IPD) are already on empirical antibiotics even before getting the sensitivity report in their hand. The purpose of this research was to examine the susceptibility patterns of commonly used antibiotics, particularly fosfomycin, against common uropathogens. Methodology: This was a prospective observational study conducted between January and March 2021 in four private tertiary hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All the urine samples referred to these four laboratories, obtained from patients of all ages and both genders, clinically diagnosed to have UTI, were included. Urine culture was performed by a semiquantitative method on blood agar media and MacConkey agar media. Following identification, antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed using the modified Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method in accordance with CLSI standards. The data was put into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software version 25 for the analysis. Results: A total of 5389 urine samples were received from four private hospitals in Dhaka over three months, and of these, 934 (17.33%) isolates were obtained from culture. About 95% of the isolates were gram-negative bacilli (GNBs). The most common isolate was Escherichia coli 615 (65.85%), followed by Klebsiella spp. 154 (16.49%), Pseudomonas spp. 64 (6.85%) and 51 (5.46%) isolates of Enterobacter. Among the gram-positive cocci, the most common were Enterococci fecalis 18 (1.93%) and Staphylococcus aureus 17 (1.82%). Of all the antibiotics tested, fosfomycin sensitivity was 98.4%, 88.88%, and 100% for E scherichia coli , Enterococci fecalis , and Staphylococcus aureus , respectively. All the isolates tested were susceptible to Meropenem (77% - 100%), Amoxiclav (78% - 100%) and Nitrofurantoin (45% - 94%). Sensitivity amongst all the uropathogens for ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, and cotrimoxazole was nearly 50% - 77%. Conclusion: The positivity of urinary isolates is 17.33%, with the most common pathogen being Escherich ia coli . Common uropathogens show the highest in vitro susceptibility to fosfomycin. So, fosfomycin should be considered as a highly potent and promising alternative oral antibiotic treatment for UTI.