Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases and Escherichia coli is its common cause. The aim of this study was to assess the resistance patterns of E.coli in urinary tract infections and to determine the susceptibility of E.coli to commonly used antimicrobials and also to evaluate the options for empirical treatment of UTI.

 Methods: This study was conducted in the Ayatollah Rouhani Teaching Hospital of Babol Medical Sciences University in North of Iran. Between January of 2013 to December 2013, antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done by disk diffusion and microdilution method. Growth of >₌10⁵ cfu/ml was considered as positive urine test. Ten commonly used antibiotics were examined for susceptibility test. Data and the results were collected and analyzed.

 Results: E.coli grew in 57 urine samples. Imipenem, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin were the most sensitive antibiotics at 87.7%, 87.7% and 78.9% respectively. Whereas, cotrimoxazole, cefexime, cefotaxcime and ceftriaxone were the most resistant antibiotics. Antibiotic sensitivity of disk diffusion compared minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) detected by microdilution had the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 82%, 98%, 99% and 74%, respectively.

 Conclusion: Imipenem, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin should be used in empirical therapy of UTI.