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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACTERIAL CULTURES OF THE VAGINAL INTROITUS AND URINARY INFECTION
Author(s) -
Marsh F. P.,
Murray M.,
Panchamia P.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
british journal of urology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 0007-1331
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-410x.1972.tb10093.x
Subject(s) - urine , urinary system , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , vaginal flora , escherichia coli , immunology , medicine , biochemistry , bacterial vaginosis , gene
SUMMARY Quantitative cultures from paired introital swab and urine specimens, collected from 191 patients who had a history of recurrent urinary infection, were compared. The introital Esch. coli count increased significantly with the urinary count. In an attempt to establish a causal relationship between introital count and urine infection the prognostic importance of the swab cultures was studied in 83 of the patients whose follow‐up satisfied defined criteria. 40·4 per cent of patients from whose first introital swab (taken in the absence of chemotherapy) no Esch. coli could be cultured, developed a urine infection due to this organism during follow‐up, compared with 66·6 per cent of those from whose swab some Esch. coli were obtained. This difference was statistically significant, and its practical relevance is discussed. There was a tendency for infections to occur sooner after swabs from which Esch. coli were cultured than after swabs from which they were not, but the difference was not significant. Some factors considered likely to influence introital flora or the development of urinary infection were studied. Patients who developed Esch. coli urine infections during follow‐up were significantly older and more often post‐menopausal than those who did not do so. However, none of the factors studied appeared to influence quantitatively the introital Esch. coli flora. The results suggest that the availability of Esch. coli in the vestibular flora constitutes a permissive factor for ascending urine infections to occur in women, but thereafter other host factors are of predominant importance.