Mounting resistance of uropathogens to antimicrobial agents: A retrospective study in patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis relapse

Despite recent progress in the management of chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP), many cases relapse. Increased drug resistance patterns of responsible bacteria have been proposed as the most probable causative factor. Driven by the limited number of previous studies addressing this topic, we aimed to study whether antibiotic resistance increases in patients with CBP when relapse occurs. A secondary aim of this study was to determine the resistance patterns of responsible bacteria from patients with CBP.

The study material consisted of bacterial isolates from urine and/or prostatic secretions obtained from patients with CBP. Bacterial identification was performed by using the Vitek 2 Compact system and susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion and/or the Vitek 2 system. Interpretation of susceptibility results was based on Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines.

A total of 253 samples from patients diagnosed with CBP for the first time (group A) and 137 samples from relapsing patients with a history of CBP and previous antibiotic treatment (group B) were analyzed. A significant reduction in bacterial resistance to the less used antibiotics (TMP-SMX, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, penicillins, and macrolides) was noted. An increase in resistance to quinolones of many bacteria that cause CBP was also noted with the increase in resistance of enterococcus strains being alarming.

Comparison of the resistance profile of CBP-responsible bacteria between samples from first-time-diagnosed patients and samples from relapsing patients revealed notable differences that could be attributed to previous antibiotic treatment.

Investigative and clinical urology. 2017 Jun 13 [Epub]

Konstantinos Stamatiou, Nikolaos Pierris

Department of Urology, Tzaneio General Hospital of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece.