scholarly journals The Female Urinary Microbiome: a Comparison of Women with and without Urgency Urinary Incontinence

mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan M. Pearce ◽  
Evann E. Hilt ◽  
Amy B. Rosenfeld ◽  
Michael J. Zilliox ◽  
Krystal Thomas-White ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBacterial DNA and live bacteria have been detected in human urine in the absence of clinical infection, challenging the prevailing dogma that urine is normally sterile. Urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) is a poorly understood urinary condition characterized by symptoms that overlap urinary infection, including urinary urgency and increased frequency with urinary incontinence. The recent discovery of the urinary microbiome warrants investigation into whether bacteria contribute to UUI. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to classify bacterial DNA and expanded quantitative urine culture (EQUC) techniques to isolate live bacteria in urine collected by using a transurethral catheter from women with UUI and, in comparison, a cohort without UUI. For these cohorts, we demonstrated that the UUI and non-UUI urinary microbiomes differ by group based on both sequence and culture evidences. Compared to the non-UUI microbiome, sequencing experiments revealed that the UUI microbiome was composed of increasedGardnerellaand decreasedLactobacillus. Nine genera (Actinobaculum,Actinomyces,Aerococcus,Arthrobacter,Corynebacterium,Gardnerella,Oligella,Staphylococcus, andStreptococcus) were more frequently cultured from the UUI cohort. AlthoughLactobacilluswas isolated from both cohorts, distinctions existed at the species level, withLactobacillus gasseridetected more frequently in the UUI cohort andLactobacillus crispatusmost frequently detected in controls. Combined, these data suggest that potentially important differences exist in the urinary microbiomes of women with and without UUI, which have strong implications in prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of UUI.IMPORTANCENew evidence indicates that the human urinary tract contains microbial communities; however, the role of these communities in urinary health remains to be elucidated. Urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) is a highly prevalent yet poorly understood urinary condition characterized by urgency, frequency, and urinary incontinence. Given the significant overlap of UUI symptoms with those of urinary tract infections, it is possible that UUI may have a microbial component. We compared the urinary microbiomes of women affected by UUI to those of a comparison group without UUI, using both high-throughput sequencing and extended culture techniques. We identified statistically significant differences in the frequency and abundance of bacteria present. These differences suggest a potential role for the urinary microbiome in female urinary health.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Garcia-Bustos ◽  
Ana Isabel Renau Escrig ◽  
Cristina Campo López ◽  
Rosario Alonso Estellés ◽  
Koen Jerusalem ◽  
...  

AbstractUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections and a frequent cause for hospitalization in the elderly. The aim of our study was to analyse epidemiological, microbiological, therapeutic, and prognostic of elderly hospitalised patients with and to determine independent risk factors for multidrug resistance and its outcome implications. A single-centre observational prospective cohort analysis of 163 adult patients hospitalized for suspected symptomatic UTI in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Short-Stay Medical Unit of a tertiary hospital was conducted. Most patients currently admitted to hospital for UTI are elderly and usually present high comorbidity and severe dependence. More than 55% met sepsis criteria but presented with atypical symptoms. Usual risk factors for multidrug resistant pathogens were frequent. Almost one out of five patients had been hospitalized in the 90 days prior to the current admission and over 40% of patients had been treated with antibiotic in the previous 90 days. Infection by MDR bacteria was independently associated with the previous stay in nursing homes or long-term care facilities (LTCF) (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.17–29.00), permanent bladder catheter (OR 3.55, 95% CI 1.00–12.50) and urinary incontinence (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.04–6.68). The degree of dependence and comorbidity, female sex, obesity, and bacteraemia were independent predictors of longer hospital stay. The epidemiology and presentation of UTIs requiring hospitalisation is changing over time. Attention should be paid to improve management of urinary incontinence, judicious catheterisation, and antibiotic therapy.


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Tomislav Meštrović ◽  
Mario Matijašić ◽  
Mihaela Perić ◽  
Hana Čipčić Paljetak ◽  
Anja Barešić ◽  
...  

The current paradigm of urinary tract infection (UTI) pathogenesis takes into account the contamination of the periurethral space by specific uropathogens residing in the gut, which is followed by urethral colonization and pathogen ascension to the urinary bladder. Consequently, studying the relationship between gut microbiota and the subsequent development of bacteriuria and UTI represents an important field of research. However, the well-established diagnostic and therapeutic paradigm for urinary tract infections (UTIs) has come into question with the discovery of a multifaceted, symbiotic microbiome in the healthy urogenital tract. More specifically, emerging data suggest that vaginal dysbiosis may result in Escherichia coli colonization and prompt recurrent UTIs, while urinary microbiome perturbations may precede the development of UTIs and other pathologic conditions of the urinary system. The question is whether these findings can be exploited for risk reduction and treatment purposes. This review aimed to appraise the three aforementioned specific microbiomes regarding their potential influence on UTI development by focusing on the recent studies in the field and assessing the potential linkages between these different niches, as well as evaluating the state of translational research for novel therapeutic and preventative approaches.


mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Willner ◽  
Serene Low ◽  
Jason A. Steen ◽  
Narelle George ◽  
Graeme R. Nimmo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most commonly acquired bacterial infections in humans, and uropathogenicEscherichia colistrains are responsible for over 80% of all cases. The standard method for identification of uropathogens in clinical laboratories is cultivation, primarily using solid growth media under aerobic conditions, coupled with morphological and biochemical tests of typically a single isolate colony. However, these methods detect only culturable microorganisms, and characterization is phenotypic in nature. Here, we explored the genotypic identity of communities in acute uncomplicated UTIs from 50 individuals by using culture-independent amplicon pyrosequencing and whole-genome and metagenomic shotgun sequencing. Genus-level characterization of the UTI communities was achieved using the 16S rRNA gene (V8 region). Overall UTI community richness was very low in comparison to other human microbiomes. We strain-typedEscherichia-dominated UTIs using amplicon pyrosequencing of the fimbrial adhesin gene,fimH. There were nine highly abundantfimHtypes, and each UTI sample was dominated by a single type. Molecular analysis of the corresponding clinical isolates revealed that in the majority of cases the isolate was representative of the dominant taxon in the community at both the genus and the strain level. Shotgun sequencing was performed on a subset of eightE. coliurine UTI and isolate pairs. The majority of UTI microbial metagenomic sequences mapped to isolate genomes, confirming the results obtained using phylogenetic markers. We conclude that for the majority of acute uncomplicatedE. coli-mediated UTIs, single cultured isolates are diagnostic of the infection.IMPORTANCEIn clinical practice, the diagnosis and treatment of acute uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) are based on analysis of a single bacterial isolate cultured from urine, and it is assumed that this isolate represents the dominant UTI pathogen. However, these methods detect only culturable bacteria, and the existence of multiple pathogens as well as strain diversity within a single infection is not examined. Here, we explored bacteria present in acute uncomplicated UTIs using culture-independent sequence-based methods.Escherichia coliwas the most common organism identified, and analysis ofE. colidominant UTI samples and their paired clinical isolates revealed that in the majority of infections the cultured isolate was representative of the dominant taxon at both the genus and the strain level. Our data demonstrate that in most cases single cultured isolates are diagnostic of UTI and are consistent with the notion of bottlenecks that limit strain diversity during UTI pathogenesis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 966-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Che Liu ◽  
Kuan-Ting Kuo ◽  
Hsiung-Fei Chien ◽  
Yi-Lin Tsai ◽  
Shwu-Jen Liaw

Proteus mirabilisis a common human pathogen causing recurrent or persistent urinary tract infections (UTIs). The underlying mechanisms forP. mirabilisto establish UTIs are not fully elucidated. In this study, we showed that loss of the sigma factor E (RpoE), mediating extracytoplasmic stress responses, decreased fimbria expression, survival in macrophages, cell invasion, and colonization in mice but increased the interleukin-8 (IL-8) expression of urothelial cells and swarming motility. This is the first study to demonstrate that RpoE modulated expression of MR/P fimbriae by regulatingmrpI, a gene encoding a recombinase controlling the orientation of MR/P fimbria promoter. By real-time reverse transcription-PCR, we found that the IL-8 mRNA amount of urothelial cells was induced significantly by lipopolysaccharides extracted fromrpoEmutant but not from the wild type. These RpoE-associated virulence factors should be coordinately expressed to enhance the fitness ofP. mirabilisin the host, including the avoidance of immune attacks. Accordingly,rpoEmutant-infected mice displayed more immune cell infiltration in bladders and kidneys during early stages of infection, and therpoEmutant had a dramatically impaired ability of colonization. Moreover, it is noteworthy that urea (the major component in urine) and polymyxin B (a cationic antimicrobial peptide) can induce expression ofrpoEby the reporter assay, suggesting that RpoE might be activated in the urinary tract. Altogether, our results indicate that RpoE is important in sensing environmental cues of the urinary tract and subsequently triggering the expression of virulence factors, which are associated with the fitness ofP. mirabilis, to build up a UTI.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 5197-5201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R. Ball ◽  
Francesca Sampieri ◽  
Manuel Chirino ◽  
Don L. Hamilton ◽  
Robert I. R. Blyth ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA mouse model of cystitis caused by uropathogenicEscherichia coliwas used to study the distribution of gallium in bladder tissue following oral administration of gallium maltolate during urinary tract infection. The median concentration of gallium in homogenized bladder tissue from infected mice was 1.93 μg/g after daily administration of gallium maltolate for 5 days. Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence imaging and X-ray absorption spectroscopy of bladder sections confirmed that gallium arrived at the transitional epithelium, a potential site of uropathogenicE. coliinfection. Gallium and iron were similarly but not identically distributed in the tissues, suggesting that at least some distribution mechanisms are not common between the two elements. The results of this study indicate that gallium maltolate may be a suitable candidate for further development as a novel antimicrobial therapy for urinary tract infections caused by uropathogenicE. coli.


mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Ristow ◽  
Vy Tran ◽  
Kevin J. Schwartz ◽  
Lillie Pankratz ◽  
Andrew Mehle ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTheEscherichia colihemolysin (HlyA) is a pore-forming exotoxin associated with severe complications of human urinary tract infections. HlyA is the prototype of the repeats-in-toxin (RTX) family, which includes LtxA fromAggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, a periodontal pathogen. The existence and requirement for a host cell receptor for these toxins are controversial. We performed an unbiased forward genetic selection in a mutant library of human monocytic cells, U-937, for host factors involved in HlyA cytotoxicity. The top candidate was the β2integrin β subunit. Δβ2cell lines are approximately 100-fold more resistant than wild-type U-937 cells to HlyA, but remain sensitive to HlyA at high concentrations. Similarly, Δβ2cells are more resistant than wild-type U-937 cells to LtxA, as Δβ2cells remain LtxA resistant even at >1,000-fold-higher concentrations of the toxin. Loss of any single β2integrin α subunit, or even all four α subunits together, does not confer resistance to HlyA. HlyA and LtxA bind to the β2subunit, but not to αL, αM, or αXin far-Western blots. Genetic complementation of Δβ2cells with either β2or β2with a cytoplasmic tail deletion restores HlyA and LtxA sensitivity, suggesting that β2integrin signaling is not required for cytotoxicity. Finally, β2mutations do not alter sensitivity to unrelated pore-forming toxins, as wild-type or Δβ2cells are equally sensitive toStaphylococcus aureusα-toxin andProteus mirabilisHpmA. Our studies show two RTX toxins use the β2integrin β subunit alone to facilitate cytotoxicity, but downstream integrin signaling is dispensable.IMPORTANCEUrinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide. UropathogenicEscherichia colistrains are responsible for more than 80% of community-acquired urinary tract infections. Although we have known for nearly a century that severe infections stemming from urinary tract infections, including kidney or bloodstream infections are associated with expression of a toxin, hemolysin, from uropathogenicEscherichia coli, how hemolysin functions to enhance virulence is unknown. Our research defines the interaction of hemolysin with the β2integrin, a human white cell adhesion molecule, as a potential therapeutic target during urinary tract infections. TheE. colihemolysin is the prototype for a toxin family (RTX family) produced by a wide array of human and animal pathogens. Our work extends to the identification and characterization of the receptor for an additional member of the RTX family, suggesting that this interaction may be broadly conserved throughout the RTX toxin family.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 7084-7085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Gonzalez ◽  
Meghan A. Wallace ◽  
Tiffany Hink ◽  
Erik R. Dubberke ◽  
Carey-Ann D. Burnham

ABSTRACTCeftolozane-tazobactam (C/T) is approved for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal and urinary tract infections and has varied activity against anaerobic bacteria. Here, we evaluate the activity of C/T against a phylogenetically diverse collection ofClostridium difficileisolates and report uniformly high MICs (≥256 μg/ml) to C/T.


2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. Vigil ◽  
Travis J. Wiles ◽  
Michael D. Engstrom ◽  
Lev Prasov ◽  
Matthew A. Mulvey ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTUropathogenicEscherichia coli(UPEC) is responsible for the majority of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) and represents the most common bacterial infection in adults. UPEC utilizes a wide range of virulence factors to colonize the host, including the novel repeat-in-toxin (RTX) protein TosA, which is specifically expressed in the host urinary tract and contributes significantly to the virulence and survival of UPEC.tosA, found in strains within the B2 phylogenetic subgroup ofE. coli, serves as a marker for strains that also contain a large number of well-characterized UPEC virulence factors. The presence oftosAin anE. coliisolate predicts successful colonization of the murine model of ascending UTI, regardless of the source of the isolate. Here, a detailed analysis of the function oftosArevealed that this gene is transcriptionally linked to genes encoding a conserved type 1 secretion system similar to other RTX family members. TosA localized to the cell surface and was found to mediate (i) adherence to host cells derived from the upper urinary tract and (ii) survival in disseminated infections and (iii) to enhance lethality during sepsis (as assessed in two different animal models of infection). An experimental vaccine, using purified TosA, protected vaccinated animals against urosepsis. From this work, it was concluded that TosA belongs to a novel group of RTX proteins that mediate adherence and host damage during UTI and urosepsis and could be a novel target for the development of therapeutics to treat ascending UTIs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Coady ◽  
Anissa R. Ramos ◽  
Joshua Olson ◽  
Victor Nizet ◽  
Kathryn A. Patras

ABSTRACTUrinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by the human fungal pathogenCandida albicansand related species are prevalent in hospitalized patients, especially those on antibiotic therapy, with indwelling catheters, or with predisposing conditions such as diabetes or immunodeficiency. Understanding of key host defenses againstCandidaUTI is critical for developing effective treatment strategies. Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THP) is the most abundant urine protein, with multiple roles in renal physiology and bladder protection. THP protects against bacterial UTI by blocking bacterial adherence to the bladder epithelium, but its role in defense against fungal pathogens is not yet described. Here we demonstrate that THP restricts colonization of the urinary tract byC. albicans. THP binds toC. albicanshyphae, but not the yeast form, in a manner dependent on fungal expression of the Als3 adhesion glycoprotein. THP directly blocksC. albicansadherence to bladder epithelial cellsin vitro, and THP-deficient mice display increased fungal burden in aC. albicansUTI model. This work outlines a previously unknown role for THP as an essential component for host immune defense against fungal urinary tract infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zalina N ◽  
Aruku N ◽  
Azura N ◽  
Shahida N ◽  
Akhmarina N ◽  
...  

Introduction: Frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in young age women is not well studied. It is said to be common among female elderly and multiparous population. The aim of this study is to obtain the prevalence of LUTS among nulliparous students in relation to their personal hygiene. Materials and methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted among  200 nulliparous medical and nursing students aged between 18-28 years using standardized questionnaires. Urine samples were also collected from students to detect urinary tract infections. Results: The complete data sets of 146 students were analyzed. All of them were nulliparous, single and not sexually active. The prevalence of LUTS was 52.7% consist of over-active bladder, urinary incontinence (UI) and voiding difficulty respectively (51.3%, 34.9% and 45.2%). The most common type of UI was stress urinary incontinence which was 21.9% followed by 11.6% of urgency incontinence. Conclusion: The prevalence of LUTS among young age population is high at 52.7%. Public awareness regarding LUTS and availability of treatment is needed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document