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Comparative Genomics of Antibiotic-Resistant Uropathogens Implicates Three Routes for Recurrence of Urinary Tract Infections

Robert Thänert, Kimberly A. Reske, Tiffany Hink, Meghan A. Wallace, Bin Wang, Drew J. Schwartz, Sondra M. Seiler, Candice Cass et al.

mBio, 2019

115 citations

Abstract

The increasing antimicrobial resistance of uropathogens is challenging the continued efficacy of empiric antibiotic therapy for UTIs, which are among the most frequent bacterial infections worldwide. It has been suggested that drug-resistant uropathogens could persist in the intestine after the resolution of UTI and cause recurrences following periurethral contamination. A better understanding of the transmission dynamics between the intestinal and urinary tracts, combined with phenotypic characterization of the uropathogen populations in both habitats, could inform prudent therapies designed to overcome the rising resistance of uropathogens. Here, we integrate genomic surveillance with clinical microbiology to show that drug-resistant clones persist within and are readily transmitted between the intestinal and urinary tracts of patients affected by recurrent and nonrecurrent UTIs. Thus, our results advocate for understanding persistent intestinal uropathogen colonization as part of the pathophysiology of UTIs, particularly in patients affected by recurrent episodes of symptomatic disease.

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