Hyderabad: Cases of highly antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections (UTIs) are on the rise in Hyderabad, with doctors in govt and private hospitals now seeing around three to four such cases a week.
Earlier, doctors would see about one such case in a month.
In one such case, a 40-year-old woman with uncontrolled diabetes developed a severe kidney infection that did not improve despite treatment. “Regular UTI cases themselves often show drug resistance to most of the usual antibiotics in at least 30-40% of patients coming to us. About 10% of patients are extremely drug resistant and respond only to the highest of the reserved antibiotics,” he added.
We had to remove the infected kidney to save her life,” Dr Mohd Taif, senior urologist, AINU, Banjara Hills, said. Dr Taif said drug resistance was now being seen even in routine UTI cases. Dr Bhanu Prasad, consultant urologist, Apollo Hospitals, said that such resistant UTI cases are very often seen in OPDs these days. We have already reached a point where no other antibiotic is available to treat some such patients. ” “Patients should not take antibiotics on their own or demand a stronger antibiotic when symptoms do not improve. Patients should consult a qualified doctor, get a urine culture when needed and take antibiotics exactly as prescribed,” said Dr Prasad.
In many cases, patients continue to test positive for the same resistant bacteria even after several rounds of treatment. “The infection continued to damage her kidney and became life-threatening. “Multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria E. coli and klebsiella are being seen repeatedly, which are very serious and life-threatening infections. Even after repeated tests, we get the same report.
Doctors highlighted that the rise is mainly linked to the wrong use of antibiotics, self-medication, over-the-counter (OTC) purchase without a prescription and stopping medicines before completing the prescribed course. They warned that repeated use of antibiotics can make bacteria stronger and leave doctors with very few drugs to treat the infection. “Urine tests and culture can help confirm whether there is an infection and identify the bacteria and the antibiotics that can work against it. But some patients take strong antibiotics without proper medical advice or change antibiotics without checking their culture reports,” he added.