Urinary tract infection among children and adolescents of Garhwal Region of Uttarakhand, India

Urinary tract comprises of kidney, ureter, urethra and genital organ and under normal circumstances these organs are sterile. Inflammation of these organ and parts may indicate the possibility of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). It may be due to the colonization of wide range of bacteria either from normal microflora that is Escherichia coli or from other Gram negative or Gram positive bacteria. The present study was carried out to determine the prevalence of urinary tract infection in children and adolescents of hilly areas of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India. The sample collection was done from April 2013 to December 2013 from the Out Patient Department (OPD) and In Patient Department (IPD) of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Base Hospital, Srinagar Garhwal at an average height of 560 m (1837 ft) above sea level at foothills of Himalayas. Clean voided mid-stream urine samples were collected in sterile universal containers from 76 children of age group 0 to 10 years and 129 adolescents of age group 11 to 20 years. Bacterial counts greater than or equal to 1x105 CFU/mL in culture plates were taken as positive, which was an indication of UTI as introduced by Kass. Colony morphological characteristics were used for identification of bacterial isolation followed by Gram’s staining and biochemical tests. Our study showed a high prevalence of E. coli as the most dominant bacteria causing UTI in children and adolescents of hilly Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.