International Journal of TROPICAL DISEASE & Health

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a huge public health problem and the emergence of extended spectrum-beta-lactamase producing bacterial pathogens increases the burden of infectious diseases in Nigeria. This study determined the current prevalence of cephalosporin resistance among Gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients with urinary tract infections between February 2018 and June 2018. This study was aimed to determine cephalosporin resistance prevalence among Gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients with urinary tract infections between February 2018 and June 2018. A total number of forty representative Gram-negative bacterial isolates namely Escherichia coli (n=14), Klebsiella pneumonia (n=9), Proteus mirabilis (n=12), and Klebsiella oxytoca (n=5) were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) genes using primers specific for blaTEM, blaSHV and blaCTX-M. The molecular evaluation indicated the presence of blaCTX-M gene in 20.0% of the tested organisms, while other ESBL genes variants were not detected.  The organisms carrying the blaCTX-M gene included E. coli (n=3, 37.5%), K. pneumoniae (n=1, 12.5%), P. mirabilis (n=1, 12.5%),) and K. oxytoca (n=3, 37.5%). The presence of cephalosporin resistant Gram-negative bacteria among patients with UTI may constitute a serious threat to public health and efforts must be intensified to regulate the clinical use of the cephalosporins.