You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Antibiot

UTIs make life miserable — scientists are finding new ways to tackle them

submited by

Style Pass

2024-05-09 23:30:16

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Antibiotics are the standard treatment for UTIs, but they contribute to drug resistance. Credit: TEK Image/Science Photo Library via Alamy

As the threat of antibiotic resistance grows, researchers are developing ways to prevent recurrent and chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) without using antibiotics. UTIs disproportionately affect women and can cause debilitating symptoms. The latest approaches include an oral vaccine — which, in trials, prevented recurrent UTIs in participants for up to nine years — as well as the development of non-antibiotic drugs. Scientists are also testing safer ways to use antibiotics, which often cause side effects, to treat the infections.

“I’ve been on about five or six antibiotics and the one I’m on now is probably the only one that doesn’t give me really bad symptoms,” says Gemma Perry, aged 43, who has had a chronic UTI for 12 years and wants to raise awareness of the condition.