‎Ashwaq Hazem Najem, Iman Mahmood Khudhur, D. Adeeba Younis Shareef

Abstract

Foley catheters are most widely employed in treating urinary tract infection (UTI) during and post-surgical operations. Different isolates of gram-negative bacteria causing UTI were identified and their susceptibility to several antibiotics of different groups was studied. The ability to adhere to catheter surface/biofilm formation was investigated. The effect of the antibiotics as biofilm inhibitors were studied at their sub minimal, minimum, and double the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The results showed variable resistance patterns; the highest resistance was shown by amoxicillin (70%) and the most effective ones were meropenem (MEM; 90%) and ciprofloxacin (CIP; 80%). Enterococcus faecalis was sensitive to the high concentration of MEM with MIC of 278 µg/ml, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was sensitive at 556 µg/ml of MEM, while Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi were sensitive to CIP at MIC of 2.171 µg/ml. The study of the ability of the bacteria to adhere and biofilm formation on catheter showed different abilities, Morganella morganii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa showing the highest activity. The use of the antibiotics MEM and CIP inhibited the biofilm growth in all bacteria at MIC and sub MIC for CIP except for Aeromonas hydrophila, and MIC and sub MIC for MEM on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mixing the MIC concentrations of both MEM and CIP showed a strong effect on the eradication of biofilm in all the bacteria‎.