Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection

The elderly are more prone to catheter associated urinary tract infections. In long term health care facilities the chance of an elderly person developing a urinary tract infection from a catheter is greatly increased. Elderly patients with urinary retention problems receive indwelling urinary catheters which typically remain in place for 30 days or longer. Indwelling catheters cause a patient’s chance of contracting bacteremia to increase by 30 times. The longer a patient has a long term indwelling catheter, the greater the risk of contracting a UTI.
The mechanical reasons for UTI’s with indwelling catheters include, irritation caused by the catheter, the balloon of the catheter putting pressure on the urinary sphincter, and damage to the wall of the bladder mucosa which is caused by distension of the bladder. Bacteria
The World Health Organization reports that 14,000 people die each year from antibiotic resistant infections. Improper use of antibiotics has caused bacteria to become drug resistance. Because of drug resistance there are new ways of treating catheter associated urinary tract infections. Cranberry juice and cranberry extract consumed by women may interfere with microorganism attachment. Silver alloy catheters have also been shown to effect the adherence of microorganism. Silver also minimizes the formation of biofilm and migration to the bladder. Bacterial lysate is another UTI prevention method, which is a vaccine that introduces a small amount of E. coli into the body.
Long term indwelling catheters are going to be around for a long time. The best way to fight UTI’s is to know the preventative measures and implement them. Using sterile technique to insert catheters, maintaining a clean and closed catheter, using silver tipped catheters to retard the attachment of microorganisms, and cranberry juice are all preventative measures that can lower infection rates and healthcare