from Part IV - Exploitation of host niches by pathogenic bacteria: mechanisms and consequences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2009
INTRODUCTION
Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common human bacterial infections. The prevalent pathogens are the uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains. A great deal of information concerning the genetic, virulence, and innate immune host responses against those bacteria have been obtained. Furthermore, the knowledge of uroepithelium cell biology and physiology, in particular at the level of the urinary bladder, has made considerable progress since 1995, improving our understanding of the strategies used by UPEC to colonize and invade this tissue.
UTIs account for significant morbidity and high medical costs. In 1997, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Medical Care Survey Report estimated that UTIs in the USA result in nearly seven million doctor visits per year, excluding visits to hospital emergency departments. The overall costs associated with UTIs have been estimated to reach upwards of two billion US dollars a year (Foxman, 2002). Moreover, nosocomial acquired urinary tract infections (NAUTIs) account for up to 40% of all hospital-acquired infections in European countries and represent the most frequent nosocomial infection (Eriksen et al., 2004; Johansen, 2004; Zotti et al., 2004). NAUTIs, which are frequently associated with medical procedures (the most important risk factor being an indwelling catheter), may result in significant acute morbidity, medical complications, and legal issues (Johansen, 2004). Moreover, one of the main concerns with UTIs is that they are frequently sources of recurrent infections.
The severity of UTIs depends on the spread of the infection.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.