Biofilms and Urinary Tract Infections

Dear Colleagues,

Recurrent idiopathic cystitis is similar to repeated urinary tract infections related to the presence of a chronic indwelling urinary catheter, where it is believed that a biofilm covering the indwelling catheter is the reason for the constant bacteriuria of these patients.

Biofilms consist of microcolonies of bacteria held together by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), in which heterogeneity is not fully described but partially specific for the different bacteria. In recurrent idiopathic cystitis, the formation of a biofilm with intracellular bacterial communities in the vesical mucosa that may go undetected using standard urine cultures and persist despite antibiotic therapy is hypothesized.

Up to now, detecting the bacteria in urine is easily performed while the EPS part of the biofilms is presumed to be present but is rarely looked for. It is plausible that EPS fragments are present in the urine as biofilm urinary biomarkers if actively searched for and studied in patients with indwelling urinary catheters.

Then, these biofilm urinary biomarkers could be used in patients with recurrent idiopathic urinary infections (without indwelling catheters) where the standard treatment of cystitis often fails.

This is a call for papers about urinary biomarkers of biofilm formation that are correlated with different pathogens.

Dr. Dino Sgarabotto
Dr. Anabela Borges
Guest Editors

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