Culture-independent microbiological analysis of foley urinary catheter biofilms

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 11; p. e7811
• Main Authors: Frank, Daniel N, Wilson, Shandra S, St Amand, Allison L, Pace, Norman R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 12.11.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acids; Analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics; Automation; Bacteria; Biofilms; Bioinformatics; Biomass; Bladder; Cancer surgery; Care and treatment; Catheterization; Catheters; Catheters, Indwelling - adverse effects; Catheters, Indwelling - microbiology; Cloning; Communities; Computational Biology/Comparative Sequence Analysis; Convalescence; Cross Infection - diagnosis; Cross Infection - microbiology; Developmental biology; DNA, Ribosomal - metabolism; Fluoroquinolones - pharmacology; Genes; Genomes; Health aspects; Hospitals; Humans; Infections; Male; Medical devices; Medical equipment; Medical instruments; Microbiological analysis; Microbiology; Microbiology/Environmental Microbiology; Microbiology/Medical Microbiology; Microorganisms; Microscopy; Microscopy, Confocal - methods; Molecular Sequence Data; Nosocomial infection; Patients; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Population; Prevention; Prostate cancer; Prostatectomy; Prostatectomy - methods; RNA, Ribosomal - metabolism; Taxonomy; Urinary Catheterization - adverse effects; Urinary Catheterization - instrumentation; Urinary tract; Urinary tract diseases; Urinary tract infections; Urinary Tract Infections - etiology; Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology; Urogenital system; Urology/Urological Infections; United States > US; Colorado
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007811

Prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), a leading cause of nosocomial disease, is complicated by the propensity of bacteria to form biofilms on indwelling medical devices [1,2,3,4,5]. To better understand the microbial diversity of these communities, we report the results of a culture-independent bacterial survey of Foley urinary catheters obtained from patients following total prostatectomy. Two patient subsets were analyzed, based on treatment or no treatment with systemic fluoroquinolone antibiotics during convalescence. Results indicate the presence of diverse polymicrobial assemblages that were most commonly observed in patients who did not receive systemic antibiotics. The communities typically contained both Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms that included multiple potential pathogens. Prevention and treatment of CAUTI must take into consideration the possible polymicrobial nature of any particular infection.