Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections infecting any part of the urinary system from the urethra, bladder, and ureter, to the kidney. It affects more than 150 million people worldwide both in the community and hospital setting. In most of the complicated and chronic UTIs, biofilm - a community of bacterial cells sticking together, and attaching to the bladder wall, is involved. Unfortunately, many antimicrobial-resistant UTI pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, etc. form biofilms.
In order to manage difficult-to-eradicate biofilm-associated chronic infections like UTIs, innovative approaches to tackling biofilm formation are urgently needed. In an eloquent study, Scientists from the UK explored the library of quinazolinones (QZNs) antibiotics and discovered that a subset of PqsR QZN antagonists showed activity against biofilm as well as planktonic cells of P. aeruginosa and effectively damaged S. aureus biofilms, paving a path forward for exploiting the QZN scaffold for anti-infective/anti-biofilm drug development.
While such discoveries would ultimately be helpful, as of now, diagnosing UTIs right away using prominent diagnostic tests like Acutis Reveal™ UTI, a multiplex PCR-based test with 96-100% sensitivity and 100% specificity, is the way forward to ensure the proper management of UTIs.
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