Microbes That Cause UTIs Use Hooks to Hold On While We Pee

Microbes

Urinary tract infections are typically caused by a bacterium that somehow manages to creep its way into the bladder, despite the intense pressures exerted by urination. It turns out these microbes use hooks to cling on in desperation while we pee.

As anyone who has ever had a UTI knows, such infections are supremely uncomfortable. They are caused by the intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli,which makes its way from from the urethra to the bladder. Nearly one in every two women will experience a UTI at some point during her life, but men can get them too (though less frequently).

Scientists have wondered how these microbes are capable of withstanding urinary flow, but new research from the University of Babel and ETH Zurich shows these tiny critters have evolved a rather clever trick in the form of built-in grappling hooks.

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Source: Knorre/Shutterstock

Not unexpectedly, a new drug-resistant ‘superbug’ pops up in the United States

For years, public health experts have warned us that deadly bacteria are developing resistance to all our available antibiotics. This week, researchers reported the first known U.S. case of an Escherichia coli infection resistant to colistin, a harsh drug seen as a last resort to knock out stubborn infections. The finding, described in the American Society for Microbiology journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, is no big surprise to researchers tracking the rise of resistant bacteria. The resistance gene, known as mcr-1, was discovered in E. coli in China last year, and has since cropped up in Europe.

As the United States crosses the same ominous milestone, research to understand resistance and develop new drugs is surging ahead. As Science reported earlier this month, evolutionary biologists have recently revisited old dogma about how best to prescribe antibiotics—revealing that trusted strategies such as using a high dose may not actually help prevent resistance.

Read more: Not unexpectedly, a new drug-resistant ‘superbug’ pops up in the United States

E. coli bacteria growing in a dish.

Source: sciencemag