Urinary Tract Infection

2276 Words10 Pages
The pathogens such as Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus are commonly associated with urinary tract infections in the human population. Therefore methods of isolating these pathogens in urine samples from patients and deciphering suitable tests to perform on the cultures are of paramount importance to avoid unnecessary expensive tests usage and to provide rapid diagnostic results. This can then answer questions of what caused the disease in the first place and what necessary therapy and life-style changes must be followed to avoid reoccurrence of the pathogen in the near future and to ultimately stop any further damage caused by the pathogen to the host. Thus, the following case report will demonstrate the isolation of Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus using a number of different selective/diagnostic tests to ensure this and subsequently the follow up treatments for the infection. Introduction “Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the third most common infection experienced by humans after respiratory and gastro-intestinal infections” (M. S. Najar, C. L. Saldanha, and K. A. Banday, 2009). The number of emergency room visits of UTI incidents happening in the US is around 1.5 million cases and around 300,000 hospitalized cases are estimated (James H. Tabibian, Jeffrey Gornbein, Arash Heidari, Sarah L. Dien, Valerie H. Lau, Puneet Chahal, Bernard M. Churchill, and David A. Haake, 2008). This indicates that UTIs are a serious health problem that affects a lot of people each year and the estimated number of cases shows that not all cases have been reported possibly due to asymptomatic carriers or the general public not seeking for medical attention. UTIs are a common bacterial infection and it affects any part of the urinary tract system that comprises of the kidneys, bladder, ureters and the urethra. Any colonization of these organs
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