**3.1 Bacterial isolates**

One hundred and ninety-eight bacterial isolates comprising 120 *K. pneumoniae* and 78 *E. coli* isolates from patients with ages ranging from 2 days old to 85 years had higher MIC values from the E-test assays and thus fulfilled the criteria for further molecular characterization. More than 70% of the isolates were recovered from female patients. The isolates involved in urinary tract infections were 60%. Skin and soft tissue isolates and infections contributed 30% of the isolates and the rest of the isolates were either from respiratory tract system (5%), blood streams (4%) or central nervous systems (1%) respectively. Most of these ESBL isolates were recovered from adult patients admitted into the medical (48%) and surgical (35%) facilities of the hospital. The rest were from patients seen in the paediatrics wards (9%), Obstetrics and gynaecology ward (5%), and intensive care units (3%).
