Urinary tract infections are the most commonly reported type of hospital-associated infection, according to the CDC. New research from a Charlottesville-based University of Virginia team has pinpointed the mechanism the bacteria use to stay put in the urinary tract and withstand the flow of urine.
Turns out, the bacteria uses tiny appendages called pili, which function like tentacles, to plant itself in the lining of the urinary tract. Its pili coil tightly, similar to a spring, and flex to keep the bacteria in place as it withstands the flow of urine.
"If something is very rigid, it's typically very fragile. That's why airplane wings are meant to flap and skyscrapers actually bend in wind," Edward Egelman, PhD, a University of Virginia School of Medicine researcher, said in a statement. "This thing goes much further than that — it doesn't just bend, it completely uncoils, and that's how it can survive these very large forces without breaking. That's what we were able to show in atomic detail."
The researchers suggest a better understanding of the nature of the bacterial pili could lead to UTI treatments that specifically target them, making it easier to dislodge the bugs from the urinary tract and combat infection.