Abstract
Urinary Tract Infection, commonly known as UTI, affects as many as 50% women at least once during their lifetime. All individuals are susceptible to Urinary Tract Infection (UTI); however the prevalence of infection differs with age, sex and certain predisposing factors. With the above background in mind we conducted a survey of the local population (women of 3 age groups) to compare the urinary tract microbial community of control individuals with the UTI positive patients. Attempts were made to identify pathogens through Serum Bactericidal Antibody Response. 200 urine samples collected from control as well as UTI patients were randomly inoculated in parallel on four varieties of chromogenic agar plates and the Colony Forming Units (CFU) per milliliters (ml) of each microbe was determined. The serum bactericidal antibody assay was performed to demonstrate the presence of serum antibodies with bactericidal activity against the bacterium found in urine. However, with further experimental analysis, this bactericidal activity was found to be non specific and a similar percentage of bacteriolysis was observed incase of the control population also. 104-105 CFU mL-1 was the demarcating value between normal and pathological samples in asymptomatic cases. A significant variation was also noted in the microbial profile of various age groups. E. coli is the most prevalent pathogen in the post menopausal group. 15 different bacterial isolates were obtained of which the 16S rDNA sequence of the 6 novel ones are available in GenBank. The control and patient population showed a clear cut variation in the percentage of urinary tract microbes.
Highlights
Urine located within the urinary tract, excluding the distal region of the urethra is considered sterile in healthy individuals, as indicated by the absence of cultivable bacterial cells
In case of each of the urinary tract microbes, we find that the percentage population of control individual declines with increase in Colony Forming Units (CFU) mL−1
The two curves in the graphical diagram of Fig. 1 intersect at the range of 104-105 CFU mL−1 which is considered as the region of transition and the demarcating value between normal and pathological samples
Summary
Urine located within the urinary tract, excluding the distal region of the urethra is considered sterile in healthy individuals, as indicated by the absence of cultivable bacterial cells. On the basis of the work done by Kass, 105 colony forming units of a single species per milliliters in a clean catch midstream sample of urine is considered as significant bacteriuria[2,3]. While this threshold still holds in asymptomatic patients, in many cases a lower threshold is considered significant for symptomatic patients. Women are more susceptible to UTI because a woman’s urethra is short, allowing quick access of bacteria to the bladder. Catheterization is associated with a very high incidence of UTI[11]
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