CAUTIon - not all UTIs are the same

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common infections, accounting for ~400 million diagnoses per year worldwide. Uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTIs) occur in healthy individuals with no structural or functional abnormalities of the urinary system and primarily affect women. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are a type of complicated UTI affecting patients who have a urinary catheter in place, often hospitalized patients or patients with conditions that prevent them from urinating naturally. Both infections share common symptoms, diagnostics and treatment options but also differ greatly in pathophysiology, aetiology, risk factors and comorbidities. These differences could explain why antibiotic treatments - which generally lead to positive outcomes in patients with uUTIs - often fail in patients with CAUTIs. Understanding these differences could guide evidence-based insights into why treatments for CAUTIs should be different from those for uUTIs, specifically, by modifying catheters, which initiate the damage-induced segue for UTIs.