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Because of this, painful bladder infections return again and again
Nearly every second woman suffers from cystitis at least once in her life. Most of the E-coli bacteria are the cause of urinary tract infections. Researchers have now found clues as to why the infections keep coming back.
Painful bladder infection especially affects women
Urinary tract infections are a real pain. Most girls and women contract cystitis. In most cases, the disease is triggered by Escherichia coli bacteria (E.coli bacteria), which bite into the urethra and migrate up to the bladder. The infections usually come again and again. US researchers have now found clues as to why this is so.
Nearly every second woman suffers from cystitis at least once in her life. Researchers have now found out why urinary tract infections recur. (Image: absolutimages / fotolia.com) How it comes to a bladder infection
To protect yourself from urinary tract infections, it is important to know how it can actually happen. Already in grandmother's time, it was warned against settling on cold soils, because they can catch the bladder.
And that's the way it is, because the risk of infection increases due to cold in the area of the pelvis. This is also a reason why wet bathing suits and swimming trunks should be changed immediately after swimming.
In addition, painful bladder infections through sex are not uncommon. According to health experts, sexual intercourse more often increases the risk of inflammation, as it irritates the mucous membranes and subsequently becomes more susceptible to infection ("honeymoon cystitis")..
Therefore, it is advised to go to the toilet "after" to rinse the pathogen naturally.
Infections come again and again
Cystitis is the second most common reason for prescribing antibiotics. But despite the drug treatment, the infections in many women come again.
Researchers from the US came one step closer to the question of why this is so. As the scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in the journal "PLOS Pathogens", studies with mice suggest that a vaginal bacterium plays a significant role in the recurrence of the disease.
According to the researchers, the bacterium Gardnerella vaginalis, which is found in low vaginal flora and is known to cause vaginal inflammation, has been found to induce E. coli bacteria, which are still hiding in the bladder after an infection has survived to cause new infection.
Urinary tract infection after sexual intercourse
According to the scientists, Gardnerella vaginalis itself caused no infection when it entered the urinary tract, but it damaged cells on the surface of the bladder and caused E. coli bacteria of a previous infection to reproduce, resulting in a new onset of disease.
Their findings may also explain why some women suffer from cystitis after intercourse.
"Many women swear they get urinary tract infections every time they have sex, and that's of course a big burden," study author Amanda Lewis of Washington University said in a statement.
"We do not doubt that this is partly due to a re-infection with E. coli, but we think we have found another convincing reason why a link could exist between sexual activity and recurrent urinary tract infections: Vaginal bacteria such as G. vaginalis are pushed into the urinary tract during sex. "
Alternatives to antibiotics
To protect against a recurrent urinary tract infection, it could thus help to fight Gardnerella vaginalis medication. This would probably be used other antibiotics than against E. coli bacteria.
However, in times of increasing resistance, the focus should be on finding alternative treatment strategies.
For this purpose, researchers from the University of Basel and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich have gained important new insights in a study.
According to the experts, to prevent and control E. coli infections, drugs would be a viable alternative that would block the first attachment of bacteria to the urinary tract, as it would often eliminate the need for antibiotics.
"This opens up the possibility of reducing the high use of antibiotics and preventing the emergence of resistance," the experts wrote in a statement. (Ad)