Urogenital tuberculosis, the cause of ineffective antibacterial therapy for urinary tract infections.

Background: Urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) is one of the great imitators; it is commonly masked by urinary tract infections (UTIs). We aimed to estimate how many UGTB patients were among patients with a long history of UTIs.

Material and Methods: A total of 244 patients with recurrent UTIs and suspected UGTB were enrolled in an open, noncomparative prospective study. Their urine and expressed prostate secretion or ejaculate were cultured (a total of 1446 samples), and 421 isolates with growth of ⩾104 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml were investigated for drug resistance. Typically, UGTB diagnosis is made by individual case.

Results: All 244 patients had a long history of recurrent UTIs (on average, 7.9 ± 3.4 years); all received at least five courses of antibacterial therapy without good result. UGTB was diagnosed in 63 (25.8%), and in 41 of these (65.1%), there was comorbidity of UTI and UGTB. Of 1446 samples investigated, 421 (29.1%) were positive, and 1025 were negative. Escherichia coli was found in 57.3% of gram-negative microflora and in 29.0% only among all uropathogens. E. coli was resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanate in 51.5-57.1%, to cefotaxime in 50.0-52.0%, to gentamycin in 33.3-59.5%, to ciprofloxacin in 63.2-66.7%, to levofloxacin in 54.8-45.2%, and to nitrofurantoin in 23.5-20.8% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. If, in 2015, all isolates of E. coli were susceptible to imipenem, in 2016, 7.1% of strains were resistant to this antibiotic. Level of drug-resistance was higher in 2016, excluding only levofloxacin and nitrofurantoin.

Conclusions: Total prevalence of UGTB among UTI patients with poor results of antibacterial therapy was 25.8%. Comorbidity of UTI and UGTB was diagnosed in 65.1%.