Objective: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common encountered community-acquired bacterial infections in clinic. In this study, it was aimed to investigate resistance profiles of the Escherichia coli strains which are most frequently isolated from the community-acquired UTI, against commonly used antibiotics for empiric therapy.

Materials and Methods: Urine samples appropriately taken from patients who were diagnosed as community-acquired UTI were sent to Fırat University Hospital Infectious Diseases laboratory. Totally 222 E. coli strains isolated as the agent of infection within the previous year were included in this study. Each sample was inoculated on 5 % sheep blood agar and Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) and incubated at 37°C for 18-24 hr. Growth of ≥105 cfu/mL was considered as a positive culture result. The bacteria grown on the plates were identified by conventional methods. Antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates were investigated by use of Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method according to the criteria of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

Results: The most effective antibiotics against E. coli in the study were found fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin, and amikacin, respectively. The highest resistance rates were detected as ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and ceftriaxone, respectively.

Conclusion: We need to have a good knowledge about the resistance rates of microorganisms in our country and even in our region when choosing antibiotics for empirical therapy of community-acquired infections. Therefore it is important to investigate local sensitivity rates of most frequently encountered microorganisms in certain periods.