Probiotics and the urologist.

Authors

G. Reid, The University of Western Ontario

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1994

Journal

Journal of Urology

Volume

152

Issue

3

First Page

865

Last Page

867

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1016/S0022-5347(17)32592-2

Abstract

An examination of transitional bladder epithelial cells from 69 urine specimens from 23 spinal cord injury patients showed the presence of adherent bacterial biofilms in 66 cases (96%). All patients were receiving antimicrobial therapy, primarily trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (41 of 69), without any apparent effect on the bladder colonization. The large number of bacteria that emerged with highly virulent and potentially multi-drug resistant characteristics, especially Enterococcus faecalis (33% of isolates), was of concern. These findings raise questions about the proved efficacy and effectiveness of antibiotics against uropathogenic biofilms adherent to tissues.