Some pathogenic fungi involved in serious cases of urinary tract infections in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Three hundred early morning midstream urine samples collected from 200 females and 100 males between the ages of 20 and 60 years, suffering from urinary tract infections (UTI) were studied to determine the etiologic agents. The caliberated loop-direct method used for culturing each sample on both bacterial and fungal media showed significant microbial growth in 117 of the 300 samples. Bacteria were the sole agents of infection in 30% of the cases while pathogenic yeasts were the sole agents of infection in 8% of the cases. Only 1% showed mixed infection. The bacterial pathogens identified from the culture were Escherichia coli (12.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (8.0%), Proteus mirabilis (4.3%), Klebsiella aerogenes (2.7%), Streptococcus faecalis (2.0%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.3%). The fungal pathogens isolated were Candida albicans (0.3%). While patients between the ages of 20 and 40 years were significantly more susceptible to UTI caused by bacteria (P = 0.05), patients between the ages of 41 and 60 years were more prone to UTI caused by fungi. Also females appeared to contact UTI more often than males.