Brace your bladders, ladies. It appears that the bacteria E. coli, which is so fond of invading our sensitive lady urethras on a regular basis and wreaking all kinds of painful havoc up in our tracts, is growing smarter and learning to overcome our best defenses. A new study of over 12 million bacteria found that E. coli resistance to ciprofloxacin, which is the antibiotic most commonly used to treat UTIs, increased five-fold between 2000 and 2010. The study also found that E. coli is getting wise to Bactrim, the second most commonly prescribed UTI drug. All of this spells trouble for treating the UTIs of the future, since E. coli is responsible for between 75 and 95 percent of these infections. According to the study's authors, this development means that not only will stopping bladder-related agony be more complicated and expensive, we might also run out of treatments all together at some point. Whaaat? Yes, apparently not enough work is being done to develop new antibiotics at a fast enough pace. Terrific. I guess we'll just have to start chuggin' cranberry juice and keep our fingers (and probably our legs) crossed.
Antimicrobial Resistance for Common Urinary Tract Infection Drug Increases Five Fold Since 2000 [ScienceDaily]
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