Epidemiology of urinary tract infections, bacterial species and resistances in primary care in France

A. Malmartel, C. Ghasarossian

General practitioners often have to manage urinary tract infections (UTI) with probabilistic treatments, although bacterial resistances are increasing. Therefore, the French Society of Infectious Diseases published new guidelines in 2014. The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial epidemiology of UTI in the general population in primary care and analyse risk factors for Escherichia coli resistance to antibiotics. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 12 ambulatory laboratories. Patients over 18 years of age coming for urinalysis were included. Risk factors for UTI were collected using a questionnaire and the laboratory records. Bacteria meeting criteria for UTI were analysed. A positive urinalysis was found in 1119 patients, corresponding to 1125 bacterial isolates. The bacterial species were: E. coli (73 %), Enterococcus spp. (7 %), Klebsiella spp. (6 %), Proteus spp. (4 %), Staphylococcus spp. (3 %) and Pseudomonas spp. (2 %). Regardless of the bacteria, the most common resistance was that to co-trimoxazole: 27 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] = [0.24; 0.30]), followed by ofloxacin resistance: 16 % [0.14; 0.18]. Escherichia coli resistances to co-trimoxazole, ofloxacin, cefixime, nitrofurantoin and fosfomycin were, respectively, 25.5 % [0.23; 0.28], 17 % [0.14; 0.20], 5.6 % [0.04; 0.07], 2.2 % [0.01; 0.03] and 1.2 % [0.005; 0.02]. Independent risk factors for E. coli resistance to ofloxacin were age over 85 years (odds ratio [OR] = 3.08; [1.61; 5.87]) and a history of UTI in the last 6 months (OR = 2.34; [1.54; 3.52]). Our findings support the guidelines recommending fluoroquinolone sparing. The scarcity of E. coli resistance to fosfomycin justifies its use as a first-line treatment in acute cystitis. These results should be reassessed in a few years to identify changes in the bacterial epidemiology of UTI.