Why doctors are treating UTI with high-end antibiotics

Highlights

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), or antibiotic resistance, has been identified as one of the 10 threats to global health in 2019 by World Health Organisation.
• UTI is one of the most common bacterial infections that affect one or more parts of the urinary system, such as kidneys, ureter, bladder and the urethra. It is more common in women than men.

NEW DELHI: Abuse of antibiotics is making even common problems like urinary tract infection (UTI) complex. Doctors say the regular antibiotics often don’t work because the patients are already over-exposed to the drugs, forcing them to use high-end antibiotics to treat UTI.


Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), or antibiotic resistance, has been identified as one of the 10 threats to global health in 2019 by World Health Organisation.

UTI is one of the most common bacterial infections that affect one or more parts of the urinary system, such as kidneys, ureter, bladder and the urethra. It is more common in women than men.

Dr P P Singh, director and head of kidney transplant surgery at PSRI Hospital, Delhi explained: “Earlier, it was thought that infections acquired in hospitals are drug-resistant. But now we see so many patients who have acquired the infection in a community setting and they don’t respond to second and third-generation antibiotics. We have to use last-resort drugs, for example colistin, to save them.”

According to Dr Anup Kumar, professor and head, urology and renal transplant services at Safdarjung hospital, even children with UTI are over-exposed to antibiotics.

“When children get a sore throat or skin infection, most of which are caused by viruses, parents give them antibiotics on their own. This makes them resistant to common drugs like amoxicillin, levofloxacin and norfloxacin, and, therefore, when they develop actual bacterial infections we have to treat them with high-end drugs and often intravenous antibiotics which is very serious,” he said. “What if they develop resistance to high-end antibiotics? There will be no drug to offer,” the doctor said.

Dr Amrendra Pathak, senior urology consultant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, most UTIs are caused by bacteria such as EColi. Till 10 years ago, these were treatable with oral antibiotics. They were less toxic and easy on the pocket, too.