The microorganism and underlying urological anomalies causing the urinary tract infection in the children attended the pediatric surgery clinic at the maternity and children teaching hospital al-qadisiya\ iraq

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common infections in children. UTI related morbidity remains high despite the use of numerous effective antibacterial agents . The sample of this study was conducted in the pediatric surgery unit at the Maternity and Children Teaching Hospital , Al-Diwaniya ( Iraq) and from the 1st of August 2005 to the end of July 2008. All the patients presenting with UTI to the outpatient clinic or to the surgical ward were investigated prospectively . The aim of this study was to determine how many patients had underlying urological abnormalities, the specific type of abnormality, and the microorganism causing the UTI in the patients with or without urological anomalies.There were 78 (70.9%) girls and 32 (29%) boys , 19 (17.2%) were between 0-1 year, 68 (61.8%) were at an age between 1-5 years, and 23 (20.9%) were more than 5 years of age. Forty seven (42.7%) of these patients had abnormal urological findings. Of 78 girls, 31 (39.7%) had urological abnormalities. Sixteen children had VUR as an only abnormality. The distribution of abnormalities showed some changes by age and sex. Bacteriuria (>105 bacteria per milliliter of urine) was found in 44 (40%) of patients. The most common bacterial agent of urinary infections was E. coli (61.3%) of total isolates in both sexes , it was the most common pathogen among all patients (those with urological abnormalities and those without). There was no difference in the distribution of microorganisms in patients with and without urological anomalies. The diagnosis of UTI in young children is important as it is a marker for urinary tract abnormalities. A child with a suspected UTI should have a urine culture and colony count performed in order to identify organisms for confirmation of diagnosis and recommend prompt treatment to reduce UTI related morbidity and mortality in children.