Prevalence and Associated Factors of Methicillin Resistance (MRSA) Among Urinary Tract Infection Suspected Patients Attending at Arba Minch General Hospital, Southern Ethiopia

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a very frequent infection both in the community and hospital patients, and the emergence of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) in the community setting and infections with this pathogen become a prevalent problem among UTI patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine prevalence and associated factors of methicillin resistance (MRSA) among urinary tract infection suspected patients attending at Arba Minch General Hospital.

Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study was done at Arba Minch General Hospital from July to October 2020. Midstream urine specimen was collected from outpatients, cultured and biochemical tests were performed to identify the intended pathogen, finally the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of MRSA was done and possible associated factors were determined. The cleaned data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 21.

Results: Four hundred and twenty two (422) adult outpatients were enrolled in this study, of which males accounted for 238 (56.4%) of the participants. The mean and standard deviation age of the participants was 27.4 (SD 27.4 ± 15.6) years. A total of 54 isolates were recovered from urine specimen. The prevalence of MRSA among the isolated was 23/54 (42.59% (95% CI (35.0, 47.0)). Participants who had previous exposure to UTI (p < 0.002), presence of chronic disease (p < 0.029), and hospitalization (p < 0.006) were statically associated with the prevalence of MRSA. From all the MRSA isolates, 53.7% were resistant against Nitrofurantoin.

Conclusion: This study revealed that MRSA could be prevalent in isolates from patients suspected of urinary tract infection and exhibiting different resistance pattern for antibiotics commonly used for treatment of staphylococcal infections.