[Urinary tract infections in a general medicine department. Comments on cases collected over 3 years].

Urinary infections often complicate the clinical course of hospitalised patients especially those with immunological diseases or under antibiotic treatment for other infectious pathologies. Urethral catheterisation is also a well known cause of such infections. The problem of urinary infections was examined in a general medical division. Over a three year period (1982-84), 384 urinary tract infections (UTI) with one infecting organism and 21 UTI with two bacterial species in urine cultures were found. UTI was more often found to be caused by gram negative than gram positive bacilli in both catheterised and non-catheterised patients and E. Coli accounted for most infections. Pseudomonas, Serratia and Acinetobacter were only found in catheterised patients and Enterobacter cloacae almost exclusively so. Among gram-positive bacilli, Enterococcus was the most common. Staphylococcus aureus was rare but created major pathogenetic and therapeutic problems. The results are discussed with particular reference to the high incidence of Escherichia coli and the significance of the different distribution of Pseudomonas, Serratia, Acinetobacter and Enterobacter cloacae between catheterised and non-catheterised patients. Finally the pathogenic and therapeutic problems of UTI caused by more than one germ are considered.